They faced each other, the father sporting a white dress shirt and sleek suit, the son in a picnic-blanket button-down with a red tie matching the checkers on his chest. The father palmed the son’s head in a tender embrace before releasing his second-youngest to a wide-brimmed teal baseball cap, a short walk to the Prudential Center stage, and his professional future.

In Newark Thursday night, the New Orleans Hornets drafted Austin Rivers 10th overall in the NBA draft, 29 years to the day after his father, Celtics coach Doc Rivers, was picked 31st overall by Atlanta.