OT - Doc Rivers on Big Baby's Concussion
Last night in the post-game presser Doc Rivers made several jokes re: Big Baby's condition (concussed after taking a sledgehammer to the jaw from Dwight Howard), things along the line of "I don't know what kind of tests we can give him, he is delirious most of the time," chuckling to himself. As someone who recently suffered a few concussions I can positively state that there is nothing funny about them. I think the culture in football is changing to take concussions more seriously but apparently that mind-set has not reached basketball yet.
Did anyone else find his tone a little disturbing? Davis couldn't even make it to his own bench without falling multiple times.
I think that there is a time and a place for "Dazed" jokes, but this was not one of them. I was watching the game live, and Davis could not stand, stumbled about 30 feet before almost collapsing again, he was caught by ref's and players. - Picture that 1 friend you have who gets way too drunk and can barely stand... that was what he looked like.
This was a legit case of extreme brain trauma, and his medical condition should not be made fun of in my opinion.
I've only had 1 minor concussion myself, but yeah, that was not an injury that should be made fun of
All my friends have 1 friend like that, but I've never met him. What do you suppose that means?
He's dead?
Listen, here's the thing. If you can't spot the sucker in the first half hour at the table, then you ARE the sucker.
- Mike McDermott, Rounders, 1998
I am not a big Basketball fan, one reason is that I can't make the rulebook actually look like a current game. Seriously how can BB have a concussion problem when it is a non-contact sport? I know I am probably just some crazy old guy.
The concussion happened when a few players went up for a rebound, and Dwight Howard (a very large man) came down from the rebound and landed with his elbow connecting to Davis's face, dazing him. Davis fell to the floor, struggled to get up, and wandered around like a drunk. I'll look for a highlight vid
basketball is anything but a non-contact sport, especially for the big guys down low.
That is the reason for my post, if the ref's actually called a game like the rulebook says, that kind of contact would not be allowed or severely penalized when it does happen...You kids get off my grass!
Being a Ref, wanna know a awesome sentence taken straight from our hand book?
"Basketball is played in a limited amount of space, contact will occur."
My point is that it was not done on purpose and that sort of thing just happens. It wasn't even a foul. Watch the play at least before you act like you know what happened.
I watched the game and I really was worried for Big Baby. I though it was something more serious( I know concussions are serious ) but I though he was having a stroke or something else.
I can still see DOC waving to Big Baby to get back down the court and the guy can't even stand up straight. I'm an Orlando fan and I know Dwight can get agressive on the rebound and he has taken some shots in this series, but the one on Big Baby wasn't dirty.
Also I can't stand Doc I think he maybe the worst coach in the NBA and he is winning because of his players not his coaching. Doc making jokes after the game well that is a joke and that was not the time to joke about your players health. As much as I want Orlando to win this series I never want to see someone get hurt like that again in a game.
but I consider him at least sensible enough to not screw things up. If you were a horrible coach, I think it would be nearly impossible to win a championship, even with a great team. There's too much a coach can screw up.
I hate the Celtics but I can say that Doc is a good coach. The players respond to him and respect was he says and does. There are only a handful of coaches in the NBA that get that out of their players.
The worst coach in the league wouldn't win a title. If you want to call him the worst coach to have won a title, OK, maybe.
I think that Glen Davis is just being a Big Baby about the whole concussion thing. And if that wasn't the most obvious joke, I don't know what is.
But in all seriousness, I saw this too and was pretty surprised that he was treating it like a joke, when it really is a pretty scary situation. I already didn't like Doc River and this just gave me more reason to dislike him.
I do not usually take offense to things like that, but I completely agree that his tone was "a little disturbing." Doc obviously knew that it was a concussion and all he seemed to care about was getting Big Baby cleared for the next game.
Big Baby was definitely concussed and it was scary when Joey Crawford had to hold him up at halfcourt. I was almost more scared for Crawford cause it looked like Baby was about to fall and crush him. Doc probably shouldn't have made light of the situation but that's pretty much Doc's style and the way he responds to everything.
The Marques Daniels concussion was strange cause all he did was stick his head into Gortat's chest and it looked like nothing serious but then he came up a little woozy too
I'm glad I'm not the only one that was perturbed by Doc's tone. Concussions are not to be taken lightly. Just from what I saw last night, there's no way Big Baby should be playing the next game (and probably further).
But the sight of BB staggered definitely wasn't good. I'm sure Doc was just trying to keep it light - he's well-known as a player's coach, and I'm sure he's concerned for Davis' health - but if a WR walked off the field like that, no one would be laughing about it. BB isn't a high-impact collision sport like FB is, but it's every bit a contact sport in the paint area.
But I don't understand how getting hit the jaw can lead to a concussion that bad. Can anyone fill me in on that? I would think that getting hit in the top of the head (like where your brain actually is), would be much worse. That is what surprised me the most about the whole situation.
Also, to get back to the topic at hand, I am not a fan of joking about players' medical conditions unless they are completely over (cured). In this case that is definitely not the case and I agree with the OP.
Maybe one of our MGoDoctors can answer this better than I can, but I believe it's a matter of pressure/bruising on the brain and this can happen in many different ways.
A shot to the jaw often has tons of force that makes one's head "snap" quickly in one direction. Your brain can hit the inside of your skull and damage itself (concussion) . It's pretty much anything that can cause a relatively free floating object (your brain) to hit a hard solid object (your skull).
Personally, I got my concussion through a hockey goalie helmet - specifically designed to prevent concussions. Sophomore year of high school my assistant coach hit me square in the face (of the helmet) with a slapshot from the hashmarks. I did what I always did - go into the corner, shake it off, take a few minutes and I thought "as long as I dont get hit in the head again, I'll be fine". Of course I came back into the net and the next shot was from the biggest guy on the team, and also hit me in the face, and I was done. Those were 2 hockey pucks, within 10 minutes, that struck the front of a goalie helmet with enough force to concuss me.
I'd think that your brain almost always moves to hit your skull... your skull wont move to hit your brain without cracking it/way bigger problems.
/my $.02... any MGoDoctors want to comment?
I think that's a pretty good explanation. You can definitely get concussed by taking a shot to the face or jaw. It doesn't have to be directly to the top of your head. It's all about your brain hitting your skull and a strong shot to the jaw is gonna rattle your brain. Boxers are good examples
coaches in the NBA really don't matter. If you listen to "inside the huddle" Doc says stuff like this is a 12 point game we wont get it back at once. If I'm not mistaken, my rec & ed coach said that to me in 4th grade. Besides Phil Jackson and maybe Jerry Sloan, I dont think coaches in the NBA matter at all
Clearly you aren't a Pistons fan.
They matter a ton. Thats why the few good ones stay put and the others just shuffle around.
From an X's and O's standpoint, yeah, they don't make a big difference. (There are thousands of high schools across the country running essentially the same offense as the Lakers.) But they've still got to decide which five players will be on the court, and how to keep the other seven happy.
I didn't hear Rivers talking about it, but I did see Big Baby's concussion. It did look bad. But we obviously don't understand the environment in the locker room. While I think they all understand the seriousness of the concussion, I think it's part of a team where they poke fun at each other when things like this happen.
Not that it's exactly the same, but it's some what like in Remember the Titans, where the guy gets in the crash and says "I'm not dead." What happened to him was very serious, but it's not always best for team chemistry and it's not how everyone gets along. I think a lot of these NBA guys like to joke around and laugh things off, make fun of each other, telling Big Baby he looked drunk out there and stuff. Maybe the press conference wasn't the place to be joking about, maybe the locker room is more appropriate, but I don't really it's as cut and dry as people are thinking
yeah, yeah, yeah, so insensitive, that Doc Rivers. I've had a concussion too, as many of those who have posted. Many of you miss the point altogether. Why give ANYTHING to an opponent, especially one who has demonstrated they are willing to play by such low standards? That is what Doc is thinking. He is not going to give anything to Orlando that may indicate their strategy is working. Howard is a punk. This is not the only elbow he has thrown this series. We have no idea what is being said behind closed doors but make no mistake, Davis is not hurt by Doc's comments. Now if you have any notions of the comments somehow being hurtful to anyone who has had a concussion I say get real. It is not his responsibility to worry about anybody else than Davis. And as somebody who has had a concussion, I was not offended and say to you, grow up and stop being such a big baby.