After comments by former head coach Doc Rivers regarding Giannis Antetokounmpo’s basketball IQ and coachability went viral, Rivers reached out to the Heat star player to apologize and clarify his meaning, Marc J. Spears writes for ESPN.

Rivers said that instead of “IQ,” he meant to say “feel for the game,” and he said that Antetokounmpo responded positively to his apology.

“I was saying he was one of the most interesting guys,” Rivers said. “He makes unbelievable passes, but then at times, because of his force he plays at, it gets in the way of his feel. It was more of a compliment. I hate this and feel bad about it. I apologize for the distraction. I’m not trying to be one... The point I was trying to make is whenever you have a great player, you have to fit the team around that great player. That is the point I was trying to make. It’s not always easy. It’s a compliment. I’ve been successful and unsuccessful at it. But your job is to create the best team you can possibly create around that great player and his talents.”

Rivers coached Antetokounmpo for three seasons in Milwaukee, during which time the team struggled with health and finding ways to maximize the team’s talent.

We have more from the Southeast Division:

• Hornets head coach Charles Lee and new power forward Naz Reid had a public disagreement early in the season, but they have worked to put that behind them and move forward with a successful partnership. Reid spoke about the incident after Monday’s win over the Cavaliers. “When you’re super competitive, that type of stuff happens,” Reid said, per Rod Boone (Twitter video link). “It’s how you respond. We gotta be able to take those moments and be accountable so we can move on to the next situation to focus on. So me and coach, we’ve been fine since then. You see us talk a lot on the floor… I’m not really too worried about that.”
• Lee also spoke on Hornets star wing Brandon Miller, who missed Monday’s game with a right hip strain. He expressed optimism that Miller will be back sooner rather than later. “I don’t think this is gonna be something that takes a while,” Lee said, per Boone (Twitter video link). “He’s already shown some progress since Friday night’s game… and so, I don’t want to say ‘day-to-day,’ probably I’m going too far or whatever, but I don’t think it’s gonna be a long-term thing.”
• The Magic are 2-7, as they have struggled to find coherent offense while dealing with numerous injuries. Orlando’s loss to the Warriors on Saturday illustrated just how thin the team’s margin for error is on any given night, Jason Beede writes for the Orlando Sentinel. The team needed 113 shots to make 43, while the Warriors needed only 80 shots to make the same amount. There were signs of progress, according to head coach Sean Sweeney, who noted that the team’s emphasis on limiting turnovers was successful, at least for one game.