Clippers’ Austin Rivers still getting treatment for blow to the mouth

Clippers backup guard Austin Rivers has been to the dentist four times, including getting a root canal Saturday, to repair three teeth that were loosened and one that was knocked out by a wayward elbow from teammate Branden Dawson during a practice in China on Oct. 9.

“As long as they make it look good, that’s all I care about,” Rivers joked before the team practiced Sunday.

The contact happened when Rivers tried to block a layup attempted by Dawson. Rivers said he had never taken a worse blow to his mouth.

“They were kind of just hanging there,” Rivers said of his teeth. “And I had to stick my teeth back in my mouth.”

He sat out the team’s first exhibition against the Charlotte Hornets in China because of a surgery for the injury, then had only four points, one assist and one steal in 18 minutes in the team’s second game against the Hornets. Last season, Rivers averaged 7.1 points on 42.7% shooting in 41 games, including a 25-point performance in Game 3 of the team’s second-round playoff series against the Houston Rockets.

Rivers had to get stitches in his gums, and said he’s still experiencing a lot of pain and swelling. For over a week, he’s been restricted to a diet of shakes and soup.

The guard still has five dentist appointments remaining, but his father, Clippers Coach Doc Rivers, isn’t exactly distraught over his son’s recent trauma.

“It’s a mean thing to say, but it’s just teeth,” the elder Rivers said. “You can get new ones.”

Second-unit problems

Despite assembling a strong backup cast over the summer, Doc Rivers is well aware that the team’s bench has not yet jelled.

The Clippers added nine new players to their roster, including Paul Pierce, Lance Stephenson and Josh Smith to play alongside reserves Jamal Crawford and Rivers.

“Half of them will get it right away, half of them will get the timing by Game 5, and half of them will get it by Game 40,” Rivers said. “That doesn’t mean they still can’t play, they just don’t have the perfect timing that you’d like.”

Rivers said that another reason the second unit doesn’t look as dominant as expected is because he has been experimenting with various lineups.

“I’ve been playing them all as five, and you wouldn’t do that during the regular season,” Rivers said of the reserves. “…When you put five guys [in a game] that don’t know what we’re doing, usually you don’t play that well. I’ve done that a lot, but I’ve done that on purpose. I want them to play as many minutes as possible.”

Transition issues

Some players have been struggling after their whirlwind week in China to shake off the jet lag and adjust back to the Pacific time zone.

Don’t count the coach in that group.

“I have had zero problems,” Rivers said. “I don’t sleep anyway, so I think that’s helped me in the strangest way.”

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