After learning Williams’ wife Ingrid had died in a car accident from injuries, Rivers immediately boarded a private plane to fly from Los Angeles to Oklahoma City. There, they sat in Williams’ home and talked for about two hours, before Rivers turned around to travel back to his home and his Clippers team. “That had a huge impression on me,” Williams told The Inquirer by phone earlier this week, “just because my head was just spinning. I didn’t know which way was up. For him to just jump on a plane … that’s who Doc is.” That gesture epitomizes the deep friendship between Rivers and Williams that has permeated for nearly three decades, in a variety of life and basketball scenarios.