Rivers: Clippers buckled under Raptors pressure

Doc Rivers felt the Clippers made life too easy for the Eastern Conference leaders at Staples Center on Tuesday.

Published : Dec 12, 2018 16:54 IST

Clippers coach Rivers, set to be without Lou Williams for three weeks with a hamstring injury, wanted to see the hosts do more to stifle the Raptors.
Clippers coach Rivers, set to be without Lou Williams for three weeks with a hamstring injury, wanted to see the hosts do more to stifle the Raptors.
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Clippers coach Rivers, set to be without Lou Williams for three weeks with a hamstring injury, wanted to see the hosts do more to stifle the Raptors.

Doc Rivers felt his Los Angeles Clippers side "gave in" under pressure from the rampant Toronto Raptors after they crumbled to their most emphatic defeat of the NBA season.

Eastern Conference leaders the Raptors cruised to a 123-99 victory at Staples Center on Tuesday, Serge Ibaka leading the way with a game-high 25 points.

The Raptors' win came despite the absence of leading scorer Kawhi Leonard, who was resting a bruised hip.

Clippers coach Rivers, set to be without Lou Williams for three weeks with a hamstring injury, wanted to see the hosts do more to stifle the Raptors.

"From the start you could see the Raptors pushing the pace at us the entire game and we really never caught up to it." he said.

"We just gave in to their offensive pressure."

Toronto had lost their previous two matches before making the trip to California and coach Nick Nurse was delighted with their response.

"This was a game everybody thought would be very difficult for us to win, but we kind of lined up all these things and were very focused." said Nurse.

The Raptors will attempt to back it up when they face the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday.

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