The Loop

Austin Rivers helps get Doc Rivers ejected, is world's most ruthless son

November 14, 2019

Austin Rivers owes a lot to his dad, Doc Rivers. The NBA genes he passed down, a comfortable life growing up, and even that time Doc reportedly refused to trade Austin to the lowly New York Knicks, a punishment worse than any possible grounding as a kid. Despite all that, Austin helped get his pops ejected from Wednesday night's Rockets-Clippers game. And he enjoyed every minute of it.

The odd, but hilarious scene happened late in the fourth quarter with Austin's Rockets closing in on a win over Doc's Clippers. The elder Rivers, upset over a miscommunication with officials over whether he could challenge what he thought was a bad call, lost his cool. The younger Rivers pleaded with the refs to give dad a technical foul. And when Doc wound up getting tossed, Austin laughed and egged on the crowd:

What a little brat! But a savvy brat at that. After all the technical foul shots, Houston went up 10 and wound up winning, 102-93.

After the game, Austin acknowledged there might be some family awkwardness:

But he also Instagrammed this:

Aww. And Doc commented, "hilarious. . . . Love you." Also, aww. Hey, all in the game, right?