Many were astonished when the Milwaukee Bucks fired first-year head coach Adrian Griffin and hired Doc Rivers, a former Magic, Celtics, Clippers, and Sixers coach, to replace him.
They were startled since Doc Rivers hasn’t been regarded as a particularly good basketball coach recently. It has been sixteen years since he won a championship as coach of the Boston Celtics.
Since then, he has underperformed despite having squads that were virtually consistently among the league’s top. Doc Rivers has not led an NBA club to the Finals since 2010, and he is infamous for his postseason exits and chokes.
Nonetheless, that’s who the Bucks hired last week, but supporters may be regretting it after a perplexing late-game move cost them a game against the lowly Portland Trail Blazers.
With Bucks guard Damian Lillard making his first return to Portland, the Blazers produced probably their finest game of the season. With 17 seconds remaining, Portland lead 117-116 on a late Anfernee Simons bucket. The Bucks’ finest shot was a Brook Lopez step-back jumper. He missed, and they fouled. With 4.1 seconds remaining, Jerami Grant converted two foul throws, leaving the Bucks with a last-second three-pointer to tie.
Naturally, anybody would want to pass the ball to Damian Lillard, one of the league’s finest contested three-point shooters. Furthermore, if the Blazers elected to foul, he is likely to make both shots, assuming that is what Rivers want.
What does Doc Rivers do? He has Damian Lillard inbound the ball to Giannis Antetokounmpo, who isn’t known for his three-point or foul shooting.
Naturally, the Blazers fouled; Giannis missed the first, and here’s what occurred on the second.
After the game, Rivers had a less-than-stellar explanation as to why he had his best shooter take the ball out.
Yikes. The club hasn’t won a game under Doc Rivers and is now 0-2. They remain second in the Eastern Conference rankings, but they are only one game ahead of the surging New York Knicks.
