Lou Williams Explains How Doc Rivers Forced Him To Play Drunk To Be Sober By 4th Quarter

Lou Williams is known for his party lifestyle. But what happens when he takes the partying too far? Williams told the story of a game against the Knicks when he partied too hard the night before and was still inebriated coming into the game. He tried telling Doc Rivers what happened, and Rivers told him to sober up by playing the whole 2nd quarter so he'd be ready by the 4th quarter.

"We had a noon game in New York. My whole sh*t in New York - I go to a little lounge, have me a couple of drinks, and then go and get back to the room. This particular night, it's like 10:30, I'm about to walk out of the door. A wave of women walked in. I got a little carried away."

"I kept partying, f**ked around, I look around, they're turning the lights on and I'm still in that b**ch. I got to the arena, I'm like 'F**k, I'm drunk as hell'. Mind y'all, I come off the bench, so I got about eight minutes to get my sh*t together. Doc Rivers called my number. I'm in the game, I turn the ball over twice immediately."

"I had to make a business decision; either I'm going to look drunk out here or I'm going to tell somebody the truth and I'm going to sit the f**k down and deal with my suspension later on. I walk up to Doc Rivers, I say 'Doc, I'll tell you the truth. I'm drunk as f**k. I went too far, I'm sorry. I don't think I can do this sh*t'."

"That n***a Doc looked me square in my eyes and said 'N***a you're playing the whole 2nd quarter because I need you to sweat that sh*t out. Because I'm going to need you in the 4th quarter'. I had 25 in the 4th quarter."

The game Williams is referring to is from the 2018-19 season when the Clippers played the Knicks in March. Williams ended the game with 29 points (9-20 FG), with 26 of those points coming in the fourth quarter. Williams will be glad that Rivers made him do that, as that game was one of many that contributed to his Sixth Man of the Year win that season.

Lou Williams In Hot Water For Partying Again

You would think Williams would learn his lesson about getting carried away partying. But the following season, a similar situation would occur, but much more serious. The Clippers entered the 2020 NBA Bubble in Orlando to close out the 2019-20 NBA season.

The Bubble was introduced in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic to make sure that players didn't have contact with the outside world, and wouldn't risk infection, or an outbreak that could postpone the league once again. This Bubble was an enclosure, and players were not allowed to leave.

However, Lou Williams would get special permission to leave and come back, as he had lost a relative, and had to travel to Atlanta. However, Williams was spotted days later at a gentleman's club in Magic City. Williams was suspended two games by the NBA for this transgression.

Williams' reckless behavior was just one of the many problems for the Clippers that season. They famously blew a 3-1 lead to the Denver Nuggets and missed out on the Western Conference Finals. It was also recently revealed that Paul George and Montrezl Harrell also came to blows during that time.

The Clippers were snakebitten from the start. So in hindsight, Williams' decision to party didn't cost them. But it was still a bad decision given the state of the world at that time.