Rowan Kavner
DALLAS – With so much buildup leading into the night, DeAndre Jordan actually thought it’d be worse.
Jordan was back in Dallas for the first time since his infamous summer decision Wednesday night, and he understood what he was getting into.
“They’re obviously going to boo and heckle a little bit,” Jordan said after the game. “But I thought it was going to be a lot worse. Ultimately, we came out here to win a basketball game and that was it.”
The Clippers, however, weren’t able to do that.
At the end of all the boos, which began the moment Jordan’s name was announced on the speaker in pregame and continued throughout the night every time he touched the ball, the result was what mattered most.
That was a 118-108 loss.
The defeat stung for the Clippers, both because it’s the third one in four games, and because of everything surrounding the night. Both Doc and Austin Rivers said they wanted to win the game for Jordan.
“I thought DJ was fine,” Doc Rivers said. “DJ did what DJ does. But clearly when any of that happens, you want to win the game, and your team wants to win the game for you, and we didn’t do it for him. That’s disappointing.”
Other players tried to downplay the Jordan angle. Griffin said after the game if he’s tired of hearing about it, Jordan has to be as well. Jordan admitted as much after a question was thrown his way about his summer decision during his postgame interview.
Griffin said teams shouldn’t need any extra motivation to try to win a game in the NBA. He said if that were the case, the Clippers would be in a bad place.
“We’ve just got to be better, play with more of a sense of urgency, especially when we’re on the road,” Griffin said. “No team’s going to give up, especially Dallas when they’re at home like that.”
Paul Pierce felt the same way.
“I really don’t get caught up in all that,” Pierce said. “My focus is out here trying to help the team win. I wasn’t coming here looking for the DJ signs. You’ve got to expect that, any time you’re on the road you’re going to get booed.”
There was plenty of that, though Doc Rivers said he enjoyed the environment created by the Dallas fans. He thought they were “as polite as they could be” while still being loud and animated.
“I think it’s good for everybody,” Doc Rivers said. “I think it’s good for the league. I didn’t think anything was disrespectful. They were yelling and screaming. It was a basketball game with a visiting crowd.”
Austin Rivers had a difference experience.
He said fans said “all types of nasty things,” not only to Jordan, but also to him, for reasons he couldn’t fathom.
“Tonight they were saying stuff that was just disrespectful,” Austin Rivers said. “They don’t like us here. That’s one thing. We know we are not welcome in Dallas. But you tip your hat off to them. They beat us tonight.”
