Doc Rivers joins pair of Bucks superstars, gets another chance to fix playoff legacy
Doc Rivers is being hired as the next head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks.
Rivers joins an ideal environment, as the Bucks are not only 30-13 and in second place in the Eastern Conference, but also feature two players who are widely considered to be among the top 10, if not top-five, in the NBA.
Though Rivers will be Milwaukee's third head coach in less than nine months, it's not due to a lack of success for the franchise.
The team has made the playoffs seven seasons in a row, a stretch that includes one championship and a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals as well.
The 62-year-old coach and former one-time All-Star point guard has a well-chronicled history of struggles in the postseason, despite making the NBA Finals twice during his tenure with the Boston Celtics and winning the Larry O'Brien Trophy in 2008.
Rivers has had the fortune of coaching some all-time greats since his head-coaching career began with the Orlando Magic in 1999 and continued through his runs with the Celtics, Los Angeles Clippers and Philadelphia 76ers.
That will continue when he joins the Bucks, as he is now tasked with getting the most out of two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and seven-time All-Star Damian Lillard.
Rivers has had 16 consecutive winning seasons since his title in Beantown, a mark only surpassed by Hall of Fame coaches Gregg Popovich, Pat Riley and Phil Jackson, according to a report by ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
Rivers has 1,097 career regular-season victories, placing him ninth on the all-time list and his 111 playoff wins are fourth-most all-time.
He was fired from his gig with the Sixers in May after three seasons, all of which ended in playoff berths but also second-round exits in the tournament.
The 2020-21 campaign saw Philadelphia earn the No. 1 seed, yet they were stunned in the conference semifinals by the fifth-seeded Atlanta Hawks. The team was knocked out by the No. 1 seed Miami Heat in the 2022 playoffs before being eliminated by the Celtics last spring after going up 3-2 in their second-round series.
The defeat against Boston was Rivers' fifth straight Game 7 loss and his 10th career setback in a Game 7. He hasn't made it past the conference semifinals since 2012 but will get yet another golden opportunity to put his recent playoff demons behind him in Milwaukee.
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