Larry Brown Sports

With the sudden suicide of NFL legend Junior Seau on Wednesday, concerns about concussions in sports have reached an all-time high. While the reasons behind Seau’s decision to take his own life may never be known, there are many who believe his suicide could have something to do with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which is a condition caused by repeated brain trauma that can lead to depression and dementia.

During an interview with WEEI in Boston on Thursday, Celtics coach Doc Rivers was asked if he had ever suffered a concussion during his NBA playing days. Rivers said that he had, and that his grandmother did not take it very well.

“I was (concussed before),” Rivers said according to Sports Radio Interviews. “(Hakeem) Olajuwon got me once and I will tell you a true story. I got knocked out by Olajuwon and my grandmother, who is Jim Brewer’s mother, actually called David Stern and she wanted him deported. I never knew that. David Stern told me that years later. She wanted him out of the country.”

As you can see, almost all former and current players have experiences with head injuries at some level. And almost all grandmothers despise that unfortunate aspect of the game, I’m sure. Concussions and head injuries are an unfortunate consequence of the existence of the leagues we love, and hopefully technology and rule changes will continue to help improve the means we have for protecting players.

Pat Summitt announced on Wednesday that she would be retiring as head coach of Tennessee’s women’s basketball team because of early-onset dementia. Summitt took over at Tennessee in 1974 and won eight championships over 38 years. Her impact was widespread, and her retirement even caused Celtics coach Doc Rivers to break down during his press conference after his team’s game on Wednesday night.

“Didn’t want to get emotional, I’m an emotional person,” Rivers began. “When you see a giant like that leave the game — and leave the game because of health — it’s just sad. She is responsible for women’s basketball, but she’s not just a women’s basketball coach — she’s a great coach.

“The longer I’m in this, I just realize how much coaching means to all of us. Pat Summitt is retiring at her age, and Larry Brown is taking a job at his age. It just tells you how much (coaching) is in your blood and how much you love it. For her not to be able to do, to me, it’s very sad.”

Summitt’s new role will be as “head coach emeritus,” and her responsibilities will include helping with recruiting, watching practice, joining staff meetings, helping coaches analyze practice and games, and advising the Southeastern Conference on women’s basketball issues and mentoring players. Her teams never failed to make the NCAA Tournament, and never had worse than a five seed. She reached 18 Final Fours and won eight titles. Her accomplishments were incredible, and it’s easy to see why Rivers became emotional talking about her.

H/T I am a GM

Doc Rivers was furious after the Celtics blew an 11-point halftime lead and lost to the Bulls 93-86 in Chicago Thursday. Rivers said the Bulls were tougher than Boston, and he called the loss the team’s worst of the season.

“I’m just so pissed at the way we played,” Rivers said, frustrated after the loss. “Honestly, the playoffs are the furthest thing from my mind right now because (Thursday’s) not us. We haven’t been that way but we were tonight. I called the two timeouts to remind us to make a run.

“We were cool tonight. We were the cool Boston Celtics tonight. That’s what we looked like. You could see it, walking the ball (up court). We couldn’t get the ball inbounds? Nobody wanted to work. It was a joke. We were the ‘cool Celtics.’ And there’s nothing about me that’s cool, I can tell you that. You don’t play basketball cool.”

Boston lost the lead at the end of the third quarter and trailed the entire fourth. They lost to a Bulls team playing without Derrick Rose for the 12th straight game and allowed Luol Deng to go off for 18 points in the second half. The only C’s player who might have an excuse is Ray Allen, who is returning from an ankle injury. Seems like Rivers is getting antsy with the playoffs coming up in a few weeks, and no, I don’t see Boston winning more than one round.

Photo Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-US PRESSWIRE

If you follow the Celtics, you may have heard about Doc Rivers letting two soldiers from Afghanistan sit in his chairs during a postgame press conference on Wednesday night while the coach stood and answered questions. The gentleman on the right in the photo you see above is Army Sgt. Kevin Paulson. The gentleman on the left is Specialist Jared Ward, who also happens to be one of my closest friends.

Ward and Paulson are on a two-week leave from Afghanistan, where they will be returning this weekend to serve the remainder of their deployment. Both lifelong Celtics fans, the two soldiers decided to write a letter to the Celtics organization in January asking if the team would allow them to present it with an American flag that had flown on a mission in Afghanistan. The Celtics were happy to have the duo, and the next thing Ward and Paulson knew they were watching the game from court-side seats and yucking it up with the Celtics coach.

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Breaking news: the Celtics look old. Actually, they don’t just look old — they are old. Keep in mind that this is a team that no longer cares about proving itself in the regular season. For the past few years, Boston has coasted through the regular season and picked up the tempo come playoff time. A lot of veteran teams do the same thing. Still, it is tough to ignore their flaws.  Boston is 4-5, has had trouble stopping good offenses, and has struggled to score against poor teams.  Aside from Rajon Rondo, consistent play has been lacking.  That is why both Doc Rivers and Kevin Garnett realize the team now belongs to Rondo.

“This is his team right now,” Rivers said Wednesday after the Celtics lost to the Mavericks, according to CSNNE.com. “Rondo’s just playing terrific. And we’ve got to allow him to be terrific. We shouldn’t get in his way.”

“Rajon is amazing, period,” Garnett added. “You talk about big things are coming; big things are here. Rajon is keeping us alive every night. We just have to make sure we follow his lead, and follow his effort, and we’re going to turn this thing around.”

Rondo scored 24 points and dished out seven assists, but the rest of the team — particularly the Big Three — looked flat.  With the exception of maybe Ray Allen, Rondo is the only player who has showed up every night.  We wondered a couple of weeks ago if his play would be enough to carry the Celtics, and it looks like Rivers and the rest of the team are counting on that being the case.  If you ask Jason Terry, Rondo is the only one playing with energy.

At this point, Boston is in desperate need of youth.  Rondo can provide some of that, but if the Celtics start showing their age more and more as the season progresses it will hardly be enough.  Rondo is no longer a guy who has become an All-Star because of who he is playing alongside.  Instead, he is Boston’s pulse.

The Boston Celtics swept the New York Knicks in the first round of the playoffs and coach Doc Rivers was acting pretty giddy afterwards. It was an uncomfortable sight for Kevin Garnett who joked to Lisa Salters afterwards that maybe a drug test was needed. Check out this hilarious video clip courtesy of Ben Golliver:

That interview was pretty darn funny, but it’s actually pretty tame for Garnett if you compare it to this and this. Keep in mind Doc, the road only gets tougher. It’s not time to celebrate yet.

Doc Rivers has been the beneficiary of unmatched talent over the past few years, and it’s probably resulted in people thinking he’s a much better coach than he actually is.  That’s not to take anything away from Doc.  He’s the ultimate motivator and the definition of a player’s coach.  He’s a rare specimen in that he can take a group of enormous egos and talents and get them to buy into the concept of a team.  That’s exactly why Pat Riley is reportedly said to have his eye on Rivers if Erik Spoelstra can’t get the job done with the Miami Heat.

Does anyone else feel that it’s going to be nearly impossible for Spoelstra to keep his job?  If the upcoming Heat season ends with anything less than an NBA championship, he’s gone.  I get the impression that they didn’t want him to be there to begin with, but they couldn’t just replace him without giving him a shot with a revamped roster.  If he coaches them to a title, Spoelstra will keep his job.  If he doesn’t, Riley will look elsewhere.

Whether he’s one of the better coaches in the NBA or not, Doc Rivers would probably be a smart choice.  Granted, it would be tough to not be extremely successful with a roster core of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen.  The thing that Doc does so well is check egos.  With all the star power that he’s coached over the last three years in Boston, he’s never seemed to let his locker room get away from him.  That in itself makes Rivers worth hiring.

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