What The Los Angeles Clippers Are Saying About Oracle Arena (aka #Roaracle)

What The Los Angeles Clippers Are Saying About Oracle Arena (aka #Roaracle) (Photo: Getty Images via CBSSports.com)

OLYMPIC CLUB, SAN FRANCISCO, CA — We had the privilege of attending the shootaround for the Los Angeles Clippers today, prior to their Game 3 against the Golden State Warriors. Here’s what the players were saying about #Roaracle aka Oracle Arena.

While coach Doc Rivers was not exactly impressed by what he’d heard his former Warrior and currently backup shooting guard Matt Barnes was saying, Barnes had great memories of his playoff run with Golden State in 2007-08.

“I love the crowd, whether their booing and cussing me out or cheering for me,” Barnes said, “It’s just a great crowd. It’s just blessing to be able to play in a situation like this.”

Clippers TV reporter Madelyn Burke sat down with Barnes during shootaround.

“It’s hard to even explain,” Barnes told Burke, “It’s just a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I’m lucky enough to get to experience it twice. It’s just an electricity throughout the building, throughout the fans. It’s just the energy of the city.”

Robert Morales of the Long Beach Press-Telegram reported the following:

“If you approach a game like Game 3 knowing, you know, series tied and it’s a pivotal game and it’s going to be an incredible environment, if you approach it like, ‘I’m going to try and block it out,’ I don’t think that’s necessarily the right approach,” Redick said. “I say embrace it.”
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Rivers cracked up when he heard that.
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“J.J.’s an expert,” Rivers said. “He’s only one of the most hated college players of all time, so he’s used to being booed. I should have him give our team a speech on how to handle it because he’s good at it.”

“I feel comfortable in that environment,” Redick reiterated today at shootaround, “I know our team, we’ve had some guys that have played deep in the playoffs and are comfortable. So the biggest thing is just to embrace it and not run away from it. Just embrace it.”

Danny Granger looked forward to being the bad guys.

“You feed off of that,” Granger said, “You try to get the crowd hating you and you try to get the win. Embrace the role of the villain. Yeah, you want to be the villain, love being the bad guy, and you want to get the win and run off the court with your hands held high.”

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