It was a great series, if you remember. It had the interruption with the Rodney King riots. We won Game 3 and felt like we had some momentum going. – Doc Rivers
PLAYA VISTA, Calif. — On a breezy Southern California Monday, the only thing Los Angeles coach Doc Rivers had to worry about was stopping the Jazz’s Joe Johnson from another terrific game. But all was calm at the Clippers’ sun-splashed practice facility.
As he negotiated his way around the TV tripods for interviews, Rivers boyishly laughed, “I’m not the same thin Rivers that I was 20 years ago.”
Twenty-five years ago, to be exact, the storyline was far different from the one that will play out in Tuesday’s Jazz-Clippers playoff game. In 1992, many flights at LAX were shut down for a day, due to gunfire in the area. The streets were choked with panicked drivers. And down in South Central, the Rodney King unrest had set the streets ablaze.
The Jazz were in town for their first-round playoff series against the Clippers, who were making their first postseason appearance in 16 years. Rivers was a player on the L.A. team that included Olden Polynice, Danny Manning, Ron Harper and Gary Grant.
It was an intriguing matchup. The Jazz had won the first two games, but Los Angeles had narrowed the deficit to 2-1, and confidence was high. But on April 29, four LAPD officers were acquitted of excessive force in the beating of King. Quickly the city slipped into chaos. Due to safety concerns, the NBA postponed Game 4 twice, causing a four-day layoff.
When play resumed, the Clippers won a second straight game, sending things back to Salt Lake. Utah eventually won the series, 3-2.
“It was a great series, if you remember,” Rivers said. “It had the interruption with the Rodney King riots. We won Game 3 and felt like we had some momentum going.”
Although the Jazz were the visiting team, they weren’t the only ones having problems. Concurrently, the Portland Trail Blazers were playing the Lakers at the Forum. All the teams — even those from L.A. — struggled to schedule practice courts.
“I can remember us trying to find a practice (place),” Rivers said. “We had calls (out) every day. There was nowhere open.”
That was long before NBA teams routinely had their own practice facilities, such as the Jazz’s Zions Bank Basketball Center.
The Jazz worked out an agreement to have practices and walk-throughs at Inglewood High School, a five-minute drive from the Forum. But tension was high. The team bus to games and practices was manned by a police guard. Doors to the gym were chained shut when the team arrived, as armed guards stood watch.
A feeling of eeriness and fear gripped the city. After the airport briefly stopped flights, one Jazz office staffer took the first available plane home.
“I gotta get out of here,” he said.
Restaurants and shops closed early, even in the beach areas such as Marina Del Rey, where the Jazz stayed.
The afternoon before the rioting broke out, Deseret News photographer Gary McKellar and I decided to attend a Dodgers game. I drove us on the surface roads through South Central, not knowing that in a couple of hours violence would break out in the same place.
We saw helicopters circling Dodger Stadium during the game, but thought they were searching for an escaped prisoner. It wasn’t until we got on the freeway on the way home that we saw fires spreading through the dark landscape. We turned on the radio to see what had happened.
Game 4 was moved from the Los Angeles Sports Arena to the Anaheim Convention Center for safety purposes.
“I remember the game in Anaheim,” Rivers said. “Which was really a cool game. I thought it was a signal to the city that you can come out and play again.”
Which, in a way, is the redeeming part of all sports. There are troubled superstars, overpriced tickets and never-ending clichés. But there are also the games, which, at their best, can soften the harsh things in life. Life is good when it’s safe to come out and play.