Intro:

LA Clippers head coach Doc Rivers, point guard Chris Paul and forward Blake Griffin refused to blame the controversy surrounding owner Donald Sterling's racist comments for their 118-97 loss to Golden State Warriors in Game four of their Western Conference opening-round playoff series on Sunday.

Script:

SOUNDBITE: (English) Doc Rivers, Los Angeles Clippers Head Coach (If emotions of players contributed to loss):

"Listen, it could have. I'm not going to deny that we had other stuff. I just, listen, I just believe when the game starts, the game starts and nobody cares anymore. Golden State surely didn't care. And it's just like when a player plays with an injury, they don't care that you're injured. They're going to come out and they're going to try and attack you. So if we were injured physically or mentally, the other team doesn't care and they really shouldn't care because it's a competition. And we didn't handle the competition right tonight."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Chris Paul, Los Angeles Clippers Guard (On dealing with distraction regarding race-related scandal involving the Clippers' owner Donald Sterling):

"I don't think anything had to do with the outcome of the game. But they beat us, they came out hungry. We were focused, we were ready to play and they just beat us in all aspects of it. And like I said, it started with me, early in the game, letting them get loose and letting them get going. And I just got to be point guard and direct the game."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers Forward (On difficulty in playing the game):

"It was just like every other game. It really was. That's not sugar coating anything. Everyday, like I said yesterday, there's distractions all the time. All the time there's distractions and then you just go out and play basketball. I just thought we didn't do what we were supposed to do and we didn't stick to the things that made us successful in games two and three."