Los Angeles Clipper Coach Doc Rivers comments on Clipper owner Donald Sterling's conversation with girlfriend

Interview by ESPN

Coach of the Los Angeles Clippers Doc Rivers on Donald Sterling comments

"I don't know if I'm surprised or not, I didn't like the comments, obviously. We had a great team meeting this morning about it. A lot of guys voiced their opinions. None of them were happy about it. This is a situation where we're trying to go after something very important for us. Something that we've all dreamed about all our childhoods. Donald or anyone else had nothing to do with that dream and we're not going to let anything get in the way of those dreams."

"I thought we needed to talk about it because everyone else is and so we needed to talk about it and all things came up," Rivers said. "We've heard all the stuff, the boycotts and all the stuff and all those things are things you could do but we choose to play and we're going to play tomorrow. ... It was brought up because I'm sure 20,000 people have suggested it but honestly I'm completely against that and they were, too.

"Why should we let someone's comments stop us from what we're trying to do? We're trying to do something here and we don't want that getting in the way of what we're trying to do."

"The best way I know is to get them together and unite them together to play well. It is a distraction, there's no question about that."

"They're young men," Rivers said. "It shouldn't be African American men. We have two white guys. It's about being human. We're not going to get into what race we are because we represent each other and this is our team and that's the way we're going to keep it. No one was happy about it. J.J. Redick was just as pissed as Chris Paul and that's the way it should be.

"Having said that, our goal is to win the NBA title and we're not going to let anything stand in the way of that. That's adversity that we didn't want but we have it and we have to deal with it and we'll deal with it internally but we're not going to share it with anybody else."

Rivers on speaking to his employer Donald Sterling

"We have not and we have not tried honestly. This is something that Donald and his family and everyone else has to figure that part out. We don't need a talk. We don't need that. ... Not right now. I want to deal with my team. This is a distraction and for me, I'm going focus on my guys. I came here for them and they came here because of each other. Our goals have not changed. It's like one of the players said today, 'When I was a little kid and I had a goal to win a world championship, it was to do that. It wasn't to win a world championship for someone.' That's our thoughts."

Rivers on the audio tape

"I heard it all," Rivers said. "I wasn't happy. I don't like racism. It's something I don't want to deal with but it is real life stuff that comes into play and this is one of them and we're going to deal with it as a group together and that's all we can do."

Rivers on his team's opinion of the audio tape

"It upsets all of us. There's not one guy that's happy with this situation. Do you think I want to be talking about this instead of trying to stop Steph Curry? I don't. I don't like all the phone calls I've been getting and all that stuff. We try to keep clutter away from our team and it's been brought to our team and it upsets me and it upsets our team. Having said that, we have something that we're playing for right now and we're going to deal with that and the other stuff, we'll deal with later."

"It's disturbing, it's disturbing if you hear it from anyone. It doesn't matter if he works with us or for us. It's a disturbing comment but we have to be above it right now. There will be a time and a place for us to have a reaction but this is not the time or the place.

"We're trying to win a title and we're not going to allow something to get in the way. The league is going to handle this. The player's association will handle this as well. The biggest statement we can make as men, not as black men, but as men, is to stick together and show how strong we are as a group, not splinter, not walk. It's easy to protest. The protest will be in our play."