PLAYA VISTA, Calif. – Wait.
That's all the Clippers can do right now as the NBA regular season tips off with three games Tuesday, another 10 games Wednesday, and a couple more Thursday afternoon before the Clippers open their season Thursday night in Portland.
“You just want to play already,” Austin said. “We're excited. We're just going to go out there and hoop. It's going to be a fun environment, considering that it's the team that knocked us out for the first game of the year. We've got our whole team back, a new team at that; so do they. It's going to be an exciting game.”
The Trail Blazers start their season Tuesday at home against the Jazz before getting a day off and hosting the Clippers. Head coach Doc Rivers said if he had his druthers, he'd also start Tuesday.
“But, I'm fine with this too,” he said. “We'll see how it works.”
Utah at Portland, New York at Cleveland and San Antonio at Golden State are the three games kicking off the NBA season Tuesday. Austin Rivers said every team not playing on opening night gets anxious to get going.
“Everyone is going to be watching the games, and the majority of the teams play tomorrow,” Austin said. “Portland's already going to have a game under their belt. We're definitely just anxious, just ready to get going.”
After waiting for their season opener on Oct. 27, the Clippers then get two more days off afterward before their home opener Sunday afternoon against the Jazz. That's when all the waiting catches up, as that game is the first of a back-to-back and the first game of a stretch of five games in seven days.
It's a much different start to the season from last year, when three NBA games took place on Oct. 27 before the Clippers opened the season on Oct. 28, playing in the first game of a back-to-back to start out the year.
But Blake Griffin's fine with it.
“I love watching games,” Griffin said. “To have two nights of watching games is fun for me. Yeah, you want to get out there and play, but like I said, in year seven now, you know what's coming. You know you have 82 (games), plus the playoffs. It's a marathon, not a sprint.”
