"Choking so many playoffs" - NBA fans spark meme fest over Doc Rivers seeing doctor for his famously raspy voice

After a slow start to the season, Doc Rivers and the Milwaukee Bucks have won eight of their last 10 games. The team is sitting in sixth place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 13-11, half a game behind the fifth-placed Miami Heat and a full game behind the fourth-placed New York Knicks.

This week, while mic'd up for the Emirates NBA Cup on Tuesday, Rivers sounded even more raspy and hoarse than usual. The situation raised questions about the famed coach given that he previously had surgery on a benign polyp in 2011.

On Thursday, while speaking with media members following practice, Rivers said that when he gets tired, it impacts his voice. He also said his "throat guy" told him that it was time to schedule a check-up after hearing his mic-up footage from Tuesday.

NBA fans were quick to react to the news and Doc Rivers' quote:

"The D in Doc stands for Diddy" - One wrote

"This is the kinda post you’d expect from centel" - Another joked

Others kept the jokes coming:

"This mf begging for a graphic" - One account wrote

"Yeah from choking so many playoffs probably" - Another joked

"it was Diddy calling I’m crying" - One wrote

Doc Rivers discusses his voice, explains mic'd-up footage led to call from doctor

In 2011, Doc Rivers underwent throat surgery after doctors found a growth in his throat. Fortunately, the growth wound up being non-cancerous, however, doctors still needed to remove it.

After undergoing successful surgery, Rivers said that he wouldn't be able to talk for two weeks while he recovered. In addition, he also suggested that other coaches get their throats checked out.

Because of all the yelling and talking over crowds that coaches do, they are more susceptible to having problems with their throats. While Rivers hasn't had problems since then, once his doctor heard his mic'd-up footage from this week, he reached out to the Bucks coach.

After practice on Thursday, he said:

"I thought I was tired. When I'm tired, it definitely affects me, for sure. ... I had surgery when I was with the Celtics. They found a polyp and they had to do surgery on my vocal cord, which is for a coach very dangerous, because one bad move … you have no voice. Our players would love that.

"But, yeah, he actually called me, said he heard something, so we'll get it checked out. Maybe I was yelling too much – maybe the message in there.”

With Milwaukee preparing to play the Atlanta Hawks in the Emirates NBA Cup semifinals tomorrow, Doc Rivers will need his voice.