Sterling banned for life, Clippers regroup on the fly

Seated courtside in the Staples Center in Los Angeles for a Clippers game against the New York Knicks on April 5, Donald Sterling (shown) remains the owner of the club for now despite receiving a lifetime ban Tuesday from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. Sterling was also fined $2.5 million by Silver, who has called on owners to force Sterling to sell the team.
Seated courtside in the Staples Center in Los Angeles for a Clippers game against the New York Knicks on April 5, Donald Sterling (shown) remains the owner of the club for now despite receiving a lifetime ban Tuesday from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. Sterling was also fined $2.5 million by Silver, who has called on owners to force Sterling to sell the team.

LOS ANGELES - Doc Rivers’ shell-shocked team was in a film session Tuesday, trying to do the one thing that had proven so difficult in recent days - focus on basketball.

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Rivers, the Los Angeles Clippers’ fatigued but resilient head coach, decided it was time to break the news. Their controversial owner had been banned from the NBA for the rest of his life.

The room was silent, Rivers said. He said his piece, and then everyone returned to game-planning. But even the coach conceded later that the Clippers couldn’t return immediately to normalcy.

Team owner Donald Sterling had been caught on tape making racist comments, and the Clippers’ early run in the playoffs was knocked off course, perhaps permanently.

Rivers called NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s severe punishment “the sigh of relief we needed,” but before catching his breath he seemed to acknowledge that damage had been done.

“Is this over? No, it’s not over,” he said. “But it’s the start of a healing process that we need, and it’s a start for our organization to try to get through this. That’s very important.”

Hours after Silver said he would encourage the league’s Board of Governors to force Sterling to sell the Clippers, the team took the court for Game 5 of its first-round playoff series against the Golden State Warriors.

There was a strong police and security presence both inside the arena and out, although protester turnout was relatively light. There was a strong entrepreneurial presence outside of Staples Center, where vendors hawked T-shirts featuring a colorful expletive aimed at the Clippers’ embattled owner.

Inside the arena, the Clippers logo adorned much of the signage usually reserved for corporate sponsors. Companies such as Virgin America and Mercedes-Benz withdrew their support of the team in recent days, while many other big-name brands suspended their relationship with the team.

The team locker rooms were closed to the media,so players were unavailable to comment on Silver’s bold move until the conclusion of Tuesday night’s game.

The Clippers tried to turn the page, subtly at times and awkwardly at others. Sterling’s name was never mentioned - except by occasional shrieking fans - and he was nowhere to be seen. As the team went through warm-ups, the video scoreboard featured fans’ signs pledging support for players. The public-address announcer hammered home the night’s theme: “We are one.”

Rivers had watched in recent days the toll the owner’s recorded remarks had taken on his team. After a listless Clippers team lost 118-97 Sunday on the road, Rivers cancelled an off-day practice in hopes his players could find some space from the controversy that came to dominate the sports world and office water coolers in recent days.

“You learn over and over when something like this happens, with the burden of racism, it always falls on the person who has been offended to respond,” Rivers said. “I’ve always thought that that’s interesting.

“I felt the pressure on my players. Everyone was waiting for them to give a response. I kept thinking, ‘They didn’t do anything, yet they have to respond?’ ”

Point guard Chris Paul issued a statement prior to tip-off Tuesday, applauding Silver’s action.

“We appreciate the strong leadership from Commissioner Silver and he has our full support,” he said.

Within minutes of Silver’s announcement Tuesday afternoon, the Clippers’ official website redirected to a page that had only three words on it: “We Are One.”

The curious move raised the question: If Sterling is out of the picture, who’s calling the shots? There wasn’t a clear answer Tuesday.

“If you think about it, I’m coaching a team right now, and I actually don’t know who to call if I need something,” Rivers said.

He said the next steps for the organization will be an ambiguous process with little precedent. Even Rivers isn’t sure where it will lead. While the coach is confident that Silver’s edict will stand and Sterling will forever be a pariah, he said it was too early to discuss his own future with the organization.

Sports, Pages 21 on 04/30/2014

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