Chris Paul tells Doc Rivers to be proud of his son

By Connor Muldowney | May 9, 2015

May 8, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers guard Austin Rivers (25) is greeted at the bench by head coach Doc Rivers against the Houston Rockets during the second half in game three of the second round of the NBA Playoffs. at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /

Watch as Chris Paul tell Doc Rivers he needs to be a proud father of Austin Rivers instead of always trying to be his coach.

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There’s always a fine line to walk when you coach your own son. There’s an even finer line when you’re coaching your son at the professional level like Doc Rivers is for the Los Angeles Clippers. Austin Rivers gets a lot of criticism by his dad, as well as fans, for not living up to the hype and sometimes crumbling under pressure.

However, on Friday night, Rivers rose to the occasion and absolutely dominated against the Houston Rockets in Game 3 of the Western Conference Semifinals.

The win put the Clippers up 2-1 in the series and the victory was due, in large part, to the strong play of Austin Rivers who had 25 points, six rebounds and two assists — quite possibly the best game of his young career.

Despite the solid performance, coach Doc was on him as hard as always and Chris Paul wanted to let him know that it was OK to be proud.

Now that was a pretty cool exchange from one of the best leaders in the NBA and his head coach. Paul was sticking up for his younger teammate who just had the game of his life, even having the Staples Center crowd chanting his name at one point.

Paul is right, Rivers needs to sometimes cut his son some slack as the pressure to perform well in the playoffs is tough enough, let alone having his dad breathing down his neck.

Let’s see if Austin can carry some of his magic over into Game 4.

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