Doc Rivers apologizes for Clippers' tweet, calls it 'classless'
Clippers head coach says there's no room for mockery of the Grizzlies' 50-point loss, which shows how new to Twitter he is.
After the Clippers lost to the Warriors on Wednesday night, the Clippers' official Twitter account sent out the score along with #didntloseby50 as a hashtag in reference to the Memphis Grizzlies' 50-point loss to Golden State earlier this week. The Grizzlies were not amused.
On Thursday, the Clippers announced that the employee who had tweeted that particular joke had been "disciplined," whatever that meant. Presumably it meant that the person was not fired. On Friday, Doc Rivers followed up on the subject.
Doc called #didntloseby50 tweet classless and tasteless.
— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) November 6, 2015
I'm of two minds on this.
On the one hand, NBA players put a ridiculous amount of work into their games. This sport is difficult and is grinding, and to get to this level you have to have not only had the skill but the work ethic to make your dreams come true. As such, even when you have a particularly disastrous night, you deserve better than to have another team disrespect you like that. The Clippers weren't playing the Grizzlies, it was just throwing a shot to throw a shot. On top of that, guess what? The loss count the same in the standings for the Clippers as it did for Memphis. There should be a better respect for the game from the team than that.
On the other hand, first off, it was just a tweet. It's 140 characters on a completely disposable medium. The fact that so much is made of the things put on Twitter is pretty striking in and of itself, and I say that as a Twitter addict. What's more, if Memphis really doesn't want people taking shots at the fact that they lost by 50, there's a great solution.
Don't lose by 50.
It's good from Doc Rivers to try and put a more professional face on the situation, but it seems like a big deal about nothing.
