Getty Image / Jamie Schwaberow
The decision made by the Milwaukee Bucks to part ways with their first-year head coach Adrian Griffin and subsequently hire former coach Doc Rivers from the Magic, Celtics, Clippers, and Sixers has left many surprised.
The surprise stems from the fact that Doc Rivers, in recent times, has not been regarded as a particularly exceptional basketball coach. It has been sixteen years since he last won a championship as the coach of the Boston Celtics.
Since then, his coaching performances have been underwhelming, despite consistently having rosters that were among the best in the league. Doc Rivers has not led a team to the NBA Finals since 2010 and is known for his disappointments and failures in the playoffs.
However, the Bucks still chose to hire him last week. Yet, fans may already be regretting this decision after a perplexing end-of-game choice resulted in a loss against the lowly Portland Trail Blazers.
In a game where Bucks guard Damian Lillard made his return to Portland, the Blazers played one of their best games of the season. After a late basket by Anfernee Simons, Portland held a 117-116 lead with only 17 seconds remaining. Surprisingly, the Bucks’ best attempt at a shot was a step back jumper by Brook Lopez, which he missed. Consequently, they fouled the Blazers, and Jerami Grant made two free throws with 4.1 seconds left. This meant that the Bucks needed a last-second three-pointer to tie the game.
Naturally, the ideal player to receive the ball in this situation would have been Damian Lillard, known as one of the league’s best shooters, especially in contested three-point situations. Additionally, if the Blazers chose to foul, Lillard would likely make both free throws if that was what Rivers wanted him to do.
However, what did Doc Rivers decide to do? He had Damian Lillard inbound the ball to Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is not known for his three-point shooting or free throw accuracy.
As expected, the Blazers fouled, and Giannis missed the first free throw. The outcome of the second free throw was as follows:
Doc Rivers really had Dame inbound to Giannis knowing Blazers will foul đź’€ pic.twitter.com/63OallunI3
— BrickMuse (@BrickMuse) February 1, 2024
After the game, Rivers provided a less-than-satisfactory explanation for why he chose to have his best shooter inbound the ball.
Here is Doc Rivers’ explanation for inbounding to Giannis.
He says, “if Giannis could make the first,” he liked his chances of Giannis getting the rebound from the intentionally-missed second free throw with no one in front of him.
1) That’s a significant “if”
2) If he misses, then the whole… pic.twitter.com/yUncsXDoaN
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) February 1, 2024
The team’s performance under Doc Rivers has been far from impressive, as they have yet to win a game with him as coach and currently hold a 0-2 record. Although they still occupy the second spot in the Eastern Conference standings, they are only one game ahead of the rapidly improving New York Knicks.
According to the Source brobible.com