Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers had so many telephone conversations — middle of the night and otherwise — with friend Flip Saunders that he can't come close to remembering or quantifying them all.
But he'll never forget the final one in late summer, when Saunders believed he was well on his way toward beating a cancer that attacks the immune system.
The two men talked about the usual things — family, basketball, life in general — and something else Rivers can't remember his longtime friend saying before.
"The last thing Flip told me, literally, was we've got to take care of each other," Rivers said. "At that time, obviously he thought he'd be fine. I never talked to him again."
Nearly two months later, Saunders died at age 60 because of complications resulting from his treatments for Hodgkin's lymphoma. Those who knew Saunders best knew for weeks that his life was threatened, but Rivers called the news of Saunders' death last Sunday a "shock" nonetheless and an important reminder of his own mortality.
Rivers is 54 and hadn't given such matters much thought until now.
"When he said we've got to take care of each other, he meant healthwise," Rivers said. "We've got to get our checkups, we've got to be sure we do our stuff. Our job as coaches is to work, work, work. We have to think about our health a little more."
Rivers and Saunders were friendly before Rivers and Michigan State's Tom Izzo served as U.S. assistants on the Goodwill Games team Saunders coached in Australia in 2001. They became fast friends going forward, united by their love and obsession for the game and by life's unexpected twists and turns that kept bringing them closer together.
