His Los Angeles Clippers had just beaten the Nets 105-100 on Saturday night, finally getting some reliable play from the bench and continuing a recent trend of precise execution down the stretch.
In other words, what the Warriors had been doing for 24 games in a row.
"They have the ability -- and a lot of it is confidence-driven -- but they have this great ability to not panic," Rivers told CBS Sports. "... I'm impressed with everything. But the thing that I'm most impressed with is their ability to be a team."
The Warriors' streak -- 24 in a row this season, and 28 straight dating to last season, which was good for the second-longest winning streak in NBA history -- had become a nightly event like no other in the NBA until they lost to the Bucks, 108-95 on Saturday night. The double-overtime victory in Boston the night before came in an NBA Finals kind of atmosphere. Milwaukee -- the Warriors' seventh straight road game in 13 days -- was where the streak finally was chased down by the laws of fatigue and averages.
In reality, though, it should have ended on Nov. 19, only 12 games in. Golden State trailed the Clippers by 23 in the second quarter and 18 in the third. They bickered. They splintered. And they sucked it up and came back to win by seven, 124-117, to improve to 13-0 -- a game that haunts (and impresses) Rivers to this day.
"We were putting a lot of pressure on them, got up big, and you could see them arguing on the floor," Rivers said. "And the difference is, they get over it right away. ... They yell at each other, they get on each other, and everybody accepts it. When you get a team with 12 guys that are completely over themselves? Completely?"
Rivers didn't have to finish the thought, because it was understood. Regardless of the fact that the streak is officially over, this is a characteristic that Rivers longs to impress upon his own team.
And it's a very big club that he's trying to join.
Are you a purist who considers the Warriors' streak to have ended at 24 -- the in-season mark, which would be third in NBA history after the 1971-72 Lakers (33) and the 2012-13 Miami Heat (27)? Or do you count the four straight they won at the end of the 2014-15 season, which brought the total to 28 in a row?
Either way, everyone in the Western Conference understands that they're playing for second place -- at least as far as the regular season is concerned.
"They're the team to beat," Rivers said. "But right now, we're playing for second place in terms of seedings. When the playoffs start, it starts all over. But they were the team to beat when the season started. Now, I heard all these other teams -- and we were one of them -- but they won it. They're the team to beat -- automatic -- and we all know that. And we know it's going to be a daunting task."
Rivers, of course, is dealing with his own issues. The Clippers beat the Nets on Saturday night behind 21 points each from Blake Griffin and J.J. Redick; 15 points and 14 assists from Chris Paul; 12 points and 12 rebounds from DeAndre Jordan; and 36 points from a reserve unit that has struggled with isolation and ego problems. With eight wins in 11 games since losing three straight -- including that squandered opportunity against Golden State on Nov. 19 -- Rivers' team is starting to find itself.
If only his group could find the kind of selflessness that resulted in one of the most impressive streaks in the NBA's modern era.
"The biggest point to me is [Stephen] Curry," Rivers said. "Two years ago, Curry asked for the ball. He wanted the ball in his hands more, and it didn't work. Steve Kerr comes in and convinces him, 'You need to have the ball less.' And so when you look at the stats, last year, he had the ball less in his hands than the year before, and he won the MVP. That's a great lesson. You don't need the ball to be great. You need movement. I thought that lesson, for them, was huge. I'm trying to get us to see that too."
So is the rest of the Western Conference, and the rest of the NBA. Despite the fact that the streak is over, everyone realizes they're playing for second place until further notice.
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