Doc's Diagnosis Nothing but Excuses

The day after the Boston Celtics 2008-2009 season came to an abrupt end, Doc Rivers gave some possible reasons why.

Better yet, excuses why.

Maybe I'm a little old school when it comes to this, but I am sick and tired of the excuses that coaches and players alike make after losses.

When Doc addressed the media on Monday at the team's practice facility in Waltham, Mass., he made it known that Celtics captain Paul Pierce was suffering from bone spurs in his ankle. Also, he let it be known that it could require surgery.

He also said in the same sentence, that Pierce could have played another "hundred" games on his ankles.

Oh yeah? Then why say it at all?

That wasn't the end of it, though.

He then said that Ray Allen was playing throughout the Orlando series with a strained hamstring.

He also stated that Kendrick Perkins was playing with a strained left shoulder, and it could possibly require offseason surgery. This would be the third surgery on that shoulder.

Perkins stated convincingly that surgery wasn't needed, and that some good old R&R would fix the problem.

I understand that coaches want to do everything they can to protect their players from taking the heat after big losses, but this bothers me.

I also get that players are banged up during this stage of the season. However, very few players, on every team, are anywhere close to 100 percent healthy.

If they were able to play the game, they were "hurt"—not "injured."

For those of you that don't know the difference between being hurt and being injured, it is a big one.

Hurt means you aren't 100 percent healthy, but that you are still able to play. Injured means you are not physically able to play the game, i.e. Kevin Garnett.

The bottom line is Doc was making excuses. Excuses that championship-caliber teams should never make. Ever.

When he made the comments, he made it clear that they weren't intended to come across as excuses. If he had to precede the comments by saying that, then he was completely aware that they were actually excuses. If they weren't excuses, then don't say it.

Period.

The Celtics were good enough to win three games in the series, one short of the four needed to advance to the Conference Finals. Had they won Game 7, do you think Doc would of still made these comments?

Of course not.

This is just becoming too common in sports nowadays for my liking. Whether it's the NBA, MLB, NFL, or NHL, it's happening much too often.

What happened to just plain old "they beat us like a drum"?

It's okay to say we lost because they were better than us. Coaches should try this one day and see how it feels.