Long before Doc Rivers found himself defending his Los Angeles Clippers players who were the unwelcome participants in team owner Donald Sterling\u2019s racist comments all week, he was concerned about another sensitive subject. Religion.\u00a0<\/span> Long before Doc Rivers found himself defending his Los Angeles Clippers players who were the unwelcome participants in team owner Donald Sterling\u2019s racist comments all week, he was concerned about another sensitive subject. Religion.\u00a0It was late 1999, the start of Rivers\u2019 first season as coach of the Orlando Magic, and he saw a situation in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
<\/span>It was late 1999, the start of Rivers\u2019 first season as coach of the Orlando Magic, and he saw a situation in the locker room that he felt needed to be addressed. As his players took part in the pre-game prayer that was part of their routine \u2013 with veteran point guard Darrell Armstrong handling the message like always, future New Orleans Pelicans coach Monty Williams serving as unofficial co-messenger and the entire team standing in a circle \u2013 Rivers noticed something he didn\u2019t like.\u00a0 <\/span>
<\/span>\u201cI looked up in one of the prayers, and Tariq (Abdul-Wahad) had his arms folded, and you could see that he was really uncomfortable with it,\u201d Rivers, whose team hosts the Golden State Warriors tonight in Game 7 of the first round of the playoffs, told USA TODAY Sports recently. \u201cSo the next game, we were standing up in a circle, and I said, \u2018Hey guys, we\u2019re no longer praying,\u2019 and I remember Darrell and Monty looking at me, like \u2018What\u2019s going on?'\u201d\u00a0<\/span>
<\/span>Rivers calls himself a \u201cvery religious\u201d man, having grown up in the Second Baptist Church in Maywood, Ill., and praying on his knees every night in his home to this day. But he prefers to practice privately and is quick to note that he has attended church only for funerals the past 15 years. So, that day, he decided his teams would keep their religious practices private as well.<\/span>
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