PORTLAND, Ore. – Before Austin Rivers unleashed a season’s worth of frustration on the Blazers in Thursday’s fourth quarter, his eyes lit up.
Well before Rivers started shooting into a hula hoop in the fourth quarter — his 16-point fourth-quarter silenced Moda Center to seize a 2-1 series lead — Nuggets coach Michael Malone got in his ear. Malone, who at this point has no choice but to empower his merry band of guards, told Rivers to stop passing up open looks.
“I said to him three or four times, ‘Austin, let it go. Let it fly. Shoot the ball when you’re open,’” Malone said.
Through three quarters of Thursday’s Game 3, Rivers was just 2-of-8 for five points. He’d get in the lane, see space and pass. The most remarkable thing he’d done was shoot a three that caromed off the rim and over the backboard, necessitating a floor mop to poke it free.
But with Nikola Jokic already shouldering a lopsided burden (36 points) and Michael Porter Jr. (15) struggling to find space, Malone reiterated his message.
“When you got your head coach telling you that, at that point, your eyes just light up,” Rivers said. “That’s the best thing any player can hear is that their coach wants you to shoot the ball.”
What happened next was Rivers’ redemption. First he buried a 3-pointer from the wing, breaking a 91-91 deadlock and snapping Carmelo Anthony’s personal 8-0 run. Next, with only 4:31 remaining, Rivers sunk to the corner off an in-bounds pass and buried a 3-pointer a few feet in front of Portland’s bench. No one could blame him if he stole a quick glance at Blazers instigator Zach Collins.
Rivers hit another 3-pointer to extend Denver’s lead to 102-94, which may have been the sweetest. Portland coach Terry Stotts called timeout, and Rivers was mobbed by Denver’s motley bench. Two-way guards Shaq Harrison and Markus Howard got to him, then veterans JaVale McGee and Will Barton gassed him up. Neither McGee (coach’s decision) nor Barton (hamstring) have played a second in the series. And then he hit one more 3-pointer for good measure.
“No, it’s not normal to have that many guys from the get-go accept you,” Rivers said in an emotional postgame press conference. “It was such a warm welcoming here, beyond anything I’ve ever experienced in my life. That just boosts your confidence. Coach Malone boosts my confidence. Tim Connelly boosts my confidence. Will Barton, P.J. Dozier, Monte Morris, all these guys, Paul Millsap, JaVale, these guys talked to me throughout the game. …
“We are really a team, it’s just a true team,” Rivers said. “It’s fun to play basketball like that. … I’ve never been somewhere where I’ve just fit somewhere, not just basketball-wise, but culture-wise I fit.”
Rivers, who finished with 21 points on five 3-pointers, admitted there were dark days before he signed with Denver in April.
“I sat there for like a month and a half waiting for the phone to ring,” Rivers said. “I just put my faith in God. I kept just having conversations with myself, talking to gGod, like, ‘What’s the plan? What’s going to happen?’ All the feedback I kept getting is that a lot of teams liked me, but they didn’t know what type of character I was or how I would be in the locker room. My basketball ability was never questioned. It was who I was as a person, which is actually even worse. And truthfully, it broke my heart. Because I know who I am, and I’ve always had good relationships with people.”
Connelly, president of basketball operations for the Nuggets, knew Rivers when the two were together in New Orleans. Connelly was the assistant GM when the Hornets drafted him in 2012. He knew who he was as a person and wasn’t dissuaded when other teams were worried about his reputation. After the Knicks traded him to Oklahoma City, Rivers was promptly waived in March. That began the start of Rivers’ personal reflection.
“Denver, Coach Malone, Tim Connelly called me and were like, ‘We know what you can bring to this team, and we’d love for you to come play,’” Rivers said. “… This game can bring you the lowest feeling in the world. I swear some of these nights, you can feel so low, and then this game can make you feel so good about yourself, too. It’s a beautiful game. Everything that I’ve gone through over the past two months has taught me just to never take anything for granted.
“It helps me play with a different type of chip on my shoulder with a different type of hunger because I promised myself I would never be back in that situation ever again, and I won’t be,” he continued. “No matter what, I’ll play out on that court with every ounce of energy I have.”
His attitude and his approach are exactly what the Nuggets need against a Blazers team with an elite backcourt. Whether it’s Rivers, undersized rookie Facundo Campazzo or the two-way guards, Denver’s backcourt is brimming with blue-collar motivation.
“In this moment, we just fight,” Jokic said. “They’re just going to go out there and fight. They’re going to use six fouls, they’re going to be aggressive … at least they are not going to back (down).”
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