Rivers on his return

By Gary Dzen

November 7, 2007

1 minute to read

Doc Rivers started his pregame press conference by thanking reporters and fans for their good wishes. Rivers’s father died last week, and Rivers missed Sunday’s game against the Raptors to be with his family.

Rivers plans to fly to Chicago after Friday’s game for a funeral service Saturday for his father. He has a plane scheduled to fly to New Jersey for Saturday’s game against the Nets, but he is unsure if he will coach.

“He guided me in life,” Rivers said of his father. “He was not only just a father for me, but for all of my best friends, most of whom didn’t have fathers. He was just a smart man. He was somebody I leaned on a ton last year, because I needed him. Obviously it’s tough. He’s meant the world to me.”

A poised Rivers then got down to the business of the game.

“I love Denver’s team,” said Rivers. “They’re really talented. They know how to score. Where I think they’re going to keep getting better is defensively.”

“Even though Iverson and Carmelo played last year, with the suspension (to Anthony) they didn’t really get a chance to play. In a lot of ways this is their first year together as well. In a lot of ways they’re going to be a team, hopefully like us, that’ll be tough to beat.”