Clippers’ Doc Rivers passes on summer break, works into the season

At every coaching clinic he attends, Doc Rivers preaches Xs, O’s and whoa. The Clippers coach advises his peers to take a break whenever they can to decompress amid their highly stressful lives.

Rivers usually lives up to the credo, spending about 60 days at his home in Orlando, Fla., each summer and going on two family trips. Destinations have included Scotland, China and Dubai.

This summer, Rivers made it home for 10 days. His one family trip? Two days in Newport Beach.

There was too much unrest at team headquarters in Playa Vista to take an extended breather somewhere exotic.

Clippers owner Donald Sterling was in a fractious legal battle to maintain control of the team after the NBA had banned him for life over racially insensitive remarks, and his wife was attempting to sell the franchise. Rivers, who also is the Clippers’ president of basketball operations, needed to stay in Southern California to monitor the court cases and help make decisions once ownership shifted to former Microsoft executive Steve Ballmer.

“That’s fine,� Rivers said of his hectic summer. “It’s going to be worth it in the long run, so I’ve just got to watch it and be careful because I’m a believer in burnout. So I’ve just got to find rest.�

There won’t be much of that in the coming days as the Clippers open their season Thursday night at Staples Center against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the first of four games in five days.

Rivers enters his second season with the Clippers pushing the same mantra he did a year ago: Commit yourself to the process of trying to win a championship as if you’re pursuing the woman you intend to marry, even if it means you might get your heart broken.

Last season, Oklahoma City left the Clippers teary-eyed in the Western Conference semifinals. That doesn’t mean the Clippers should abandon hope, as far as Rivers is concerned.

“A guy at the bar is looking for a girlfriend and over and over again gets turned down,� Rivers said, using a dating analogy to make his point. “I mean, you don’t win all the time right away just because you’ve asked to win. It’s just like you asked her to date you and she said, ‘No.’ What, you don’t try to date again?

“The problem is, the second time you’re not as free and the trick is to allow yourself to be just as free chasing it because when you get your heart broke, you protect yourself the second time. Well, if we protect ourselves this year, then we’re not going to win. You have to give yourself just like you did the year before.�

Rivers watched video of the Clippers’ last-minute collapse in Game 5 against Oklahoma City a few times this summer to examine how his players — and his coaching staff — could improve. He noted deficiencies in transition defense and a breakdown in communication between coaches and players about fouling Kevin Durant before the Thunder star could launch a three-pointer.

Rivers also showed the footage to his players early in training camp to remind them they are not where they want to be.

“Him knowing us now and us knowing him, he knows how to get us going and when to kind of back off a little bit,� shooting guard Jamal Crawford said. “He knows the pulse of our team better than anybody.�

Even though he won a championship with the Boston Celtics in 2008, Rivers, 53, is also familiar with disappointment. He’s spent 28 seasons as an NBA player or coach that have ended without a title parade.

A big believer in visualization, Rivers had his players attend the Kings’ NHL championship banner-raising ceremony last month.

“Ultimately,� Clippers newcomer Spencer Hawes said, “that’s our goal.�

That aligns the team closely with Ballmer, whose animated “I love Larry!� refrain during a welcome rally in August became instant YouTube fodder. Larry, of course, would be the Larry O’Brien trophy given to the NBA champions.

Rivers spent part of his summer chatting with Ballmer, though the topic of the Clippers was off limits per NBA rules until Ballmer officially became owner.

“Even when we started talking basketball a little bit,� Rivers said, “we would literally stop and say, ‘Let’s go to something else.’ �

Rivers did not feel as if he knew enough about computers to comfortably converse with the tech savant, so the men largely talked about golf, a mutual interest. It turned out their instructors used the same teaching methods, not that they helped much.

“We’re both bad,� Rivers said of his and his boss’ golf games, “so I don’t know what that means.�

Perhaps it’s a sign Rivers should spend more time on the course improving his stroke and getting away from it all.

Maybe next summer.

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Twitter: @latbbolch