Doc Rivers has said that the Los Angeles Clippers are keen to "move forward" after the team's owner was handed a lifetime ban for making racist comments.
Donald Sterling was allegedly recorded telling his girlfriend not to bring black people to the team's games, resulting in the league's commissioner Adam Silver banning him for life and handing him a $2.5m (£1.48m) fine.
Speaking at a pre-game press conference shortly after the ban was announced, the Clippers coach said: "We can move forward. We have to. These last three or four days have been very difficult for everybody involved. No matter what their race is it's been difficult.
"I thought Adam Silver today was fantastic. I thought he made the decision that really was the right one and had to be made. I leaned on a lot of things in trying to help our guys get to this decision. We did talk about at first, not playing. I thought the black socks and the shirts and all that were fine.
"My father who is no longer here would have told me to 'go do my job. Don't let anyone stop you from doing your job because of what they think about you. You can make a bigger statement by doing your job well in front of adversity.'"
The Clippers won their playoff game against the Golden State Warriors just hours after the punishment was announced.
Sian Cowper
