Austin Rivers unhappy with Mirza Teletovic

In the closing moments of last night's Clippers' game, Mirza Teletovic jacked up a three point shot and hit it. The problem, in Austin Rivers' eyes at least, was that the game was clearly over with the Phoenix Suns leading 115 to 104 with about 10 seconds left in the game.

As the TV commentators note, Austin Rivers was pretty displeased with the shot attempt and proceeded to lecture Teletovic about the display of "bad manners". In fact, the TV commentators themselves were surprised about the 3 point attempt given the juncture of the game.

How you view this shot attempt will likely come down on your view of whether unwritten rules or normative customs (should) exist. While FoxSports' article highlighted that Teletovic had only played sparingly so far this season, the lack of playing time would still be irrelevant if a(n) (unwritten) code of conduct existed. On one hand, a common answer to Austin Rivers' gripes is that he should just prevent teams from blowing the Clippers out if he doesn't want teams piling on points. Conversely, every team gets blown out on some occasion (especially when you're without Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, and J.J. Redick). Thus it may be polite to respect a team that just happens to be down on its luck. Likewise, even if a team is getting blown out, it's different situations when a team is merely playing basketball with a quarter left and inevitably piling onto a lead and when a team can just dribble the clock out.