Playing the Golden State Warriors has tended to draw such reactions from the Clippers’ coach. Entering Monday’s matchup his team had lost its last seven home games in the series and 13 of 14 overall. Rivers struggles to sleep during the season, and the two-time defending champions’ hold on this franchise hasn’t helped.
Some of that painful history reared its head again. Golden State erased a 14-point deficit and tied the score on Thompson’s three with 1:27 remaining in the fourth quarter, and the Warriors rolled into overtime on a 19-5 run with a sold-out Staples Center crowd cheering Warriors buckets as if the game were in Oakland.