Doc Rivers says he doesn't whine to referees

Despite garnering a reputation as a whiner, Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers doesn't consider his chats with the referees as fussing - to him, it's just conversation.

"I don't bitch," Rivers said to Bleacher Report's Howard Beck. "I just talk all game to the refs. Some look at it as bitching, but that's just my personality."

Rivers seems fine with the reputation he's earned for complaining, likening his standpoint to the rest of the Clippers' roster.

"When I took the job here, I remember literally hearing from a couple refs: 'Oh my God,'" said Rivers. "'You're going to the team that clearly complains more than any team in the NBA by far.'"

After a hot start at the beginning of the month, the Clippers have lost three games in a row, and now sit 11.5 games back of the Golden State Warriors. The Clippers will try and get back on track when they face their Los Angeles rivals, the Lakers, on Christmas Day.