Doc delivers heartfelt speech to Clippers following elimination

Moments after the injury-ravaged Los Angeles Clippers were eliminated from the playoffs by the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 6 on Friday, head coach Doc Rivers imparted some words of wisdom, collected over his more than three decades in the league, to his players.

"I told them I was a player for 13 years and I had my heart broken for 13 straight years," Rivers relayed to Arash Markazi of ESPN. "I told them, every night I prayed. Every single night. My only goal was to win a world championship. Every year, I'd give my heart completely to the team, and every year, it got completely broken.

"I told them it was worth it. I told them it's so worth it to buy in and give yourself to a team. And, this is part of sports. Only one winner, if we didn't win this round or the next, it wouldn't have mattered. But, it's worth giving yourself to the team. It's worth giving yourself to the team. It's worth getting your heart broken and taking all the criticism.

"It should excite you. It does to me. I told them that. I'm broken up right now, but in my mind, I'm already thinking about next year. You just have to get back on. That's going to be us, and that's what we're going to do."

It's been an emotional week for Rivers. The Clippers entered their series with Portland as heavy favorites but lost both Chris Paul and Blake Griffin to season-ending injuries. Rivers was succumb to tears Wednesday when speaking about his late mother.

His son Austin opened up about he and Doc's relationship, saying the pair only know one another strictly on a basketball level. Rivers also became emotional immediately following Friday's loss, after Austin played with blood gushing down his face from an inadvertent elbow that caused him to receive 11 stitches.