Oct. 04--The Clippers' 16,622-mile preseason journey was set to commence against the Toronto Raptors Sunday afternoon at Rogers Arena after a mostly pleasing outcome in their exhibition opener.
The Clippers knocked off the Denver Nuggets and were seeking to win a second consecutive game, something that didn't happen all of last preseason as the Clippers went 2-6.
The venue for the game against the Raptors was familiar to a few Clippers. Coach Doc Rivers played here twice in his final NBA season of 1995-96, which also happened to be the Grizzlies' debut season in Vancouver. He scored three points in one game and four points in the other.
"That was about what I was doing late in my career," Rivers said before the game Sunday.
Among players on the Clippers' roster, only 18-year veteran Paul Pierce and shooting guard Jamal Crawford had played in Vancouver.
"Paul played here?" Rivers said. "Holy crap is he old."
Rivers said Wesley Johnson would start at small forward after Pierce started in the exhibition opener. The coach has said he expected to alternate the players as starters throughout the season.
Backup center Cole Aldrich was set to make his Clippers debut after spraining his left ankle in practice last week and sitting out the game against the Nuggets.
Luc Mbah a Moute, who lost a front tooth while playing against the Nuggets, said he would see a dentist Monday for an implant.
Rivers said he would like the NBA to return to Vancouver, which has not hosted a team since the Grizzlies departed for Memphis after the 2000-01 season.
"Without saying too much, I miss Vancouver may be the better way of saying that," Rivers said. "It's just a great city, it really is. It's vibrant, it's just nice. It deserves a team, obviously, along with Seattle. Or let's just get one team in one of the two. I would be happy with that."
The Clippers will return to Los Angeles after the game before departing Wednesday for stops in Shenzhen and Shanghai, China, to play two exhibition games against the Charlotte Hornets.
Rivers said he didn't know what to expect from his team in China.
"You don't know if guys are going to be rested, tired, first game good, bad, you just don't know," Rivers said. "I guess my goal for China is conditioning, really.
"I don't think you can really focus on putting a lot of stuff in because of all the stuff we have to do while we're over there. So I guess the only thing I have control of is conditioning while we're over there, and even that can be off because of fatigue."
