Rowan Kavner
It’s become a common occurrence for Clippers teammates to rush to the locker room after the final buzzer. After all, the last one in has to dance, a tradition Redick said Paul Pierce started.
“I’ve had a lot of weird teammates in my career, and some guys just do the most random stuff,” Redick said. “Paul Pierce is a random guy. He just randomly, I think the thought just came into his head one day, ‘We should do the Soul Train line.’ He just started clapping.”
It’s now turned into a postgame ritual of sorts, with one player having to dance to that clapping.
Some players have moves, while others are more rhythmically challenged. Some have already danced a lot; others, such as DeAndre Jordan, have yet to hit the stage, though Jordan claims he can dance.
The new postgame tradition not only builds camaraderie, but since it only occurs after wins, it adds to the entertainment beyond the 48 minutes of a victory.
“It also helps us with our cardio,” Jordan joked. “We all take off. It gets real physical in the back, a lot of tugging and pulling on jerseys. The door is small. Nobody’s run into the door yet.”
Jordan said Chris Paul’s had to dance the most, and Austin Rivers isn’t far behind. Jordan, who said he’s not sure what moves he’ll pull out yet, has seen both ends of the spectrum in terms of players’ rhythm.
It’s common for players to set other players up to be the last one in the locker room, according to Jordan. After a strong game recently from Cole Aldrich, he was the victim of that. Unfortunately for Aldrich, the resulting dance reviews came back unfavorably.
Jordan said Aldrich’s moves have probably been the worst. Redick echoed that more fervently.
“The worst is Cole,” Redick said. “I don’t want to see that ever again. I’ve got to say the best was Jamal (Crawford), but I’m questioning whether or not he practiced that with his wife in front of a mirror. It was too orchestrated, it was not something he did on a whim. It was well thought out.”
Redick said he wouldn’t nominate himself for the best or worst category, but apparently the shooting guard has moves, too. Wesley Johnson said Redick might be the best, and watching Redick was one of his favorite memories of the season.
“You’ve got to see it,” Johnson said. “I can’t give it away. He’s got rhythm. It’s just funny, because you think about J.J. being so serious.”
The dancing typically begins when Pierce gets the beat going. Then, whichever player’s forced to dance needs to be ready to perform as the rest of the Clippers join the clapping.
Head coach Doc Rivers said he stays in the hallway when it happens and lets the players bond, but he can tell when he can enter the locker room when the clapping stops.
“I don’t want to witness bad dancing,” Rivers joked.
But in all seriousness, he likes what the new postgame tradition brings – to a certain extent.
Redick’s mid-interview bolt for the locker room earlier this year became a popular gif, but as amusing as it was, Rivers said the coaches have to get on players to finish their duties first.
“It’s nice when guys do quirky things like that,” Rivers said. “We’ve had to legislate it a little because no one wanted to do the postgame interviews. We’ve gotten reprimanded. It’s funny. We do something fun, and we still get in trouble. It’s just who we are.”
