After just 10 games as the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, veteran coach Doc Rivers already seems done with his latest return to the NBA head coaching ranks.
The Bucks shocked the basketball world a few weeks ago when they decided that Adrian Griffin was not living up to expectations over the first few months leading the team and removed him from his position as head coach. It was a surprising move since Milwaukee had an impressive 30-13 record when they fired the 49-year-old.
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With the organization hunting championships, they decided to replace Griffin with one the most prominent names on the coach market, Doc Rivers. Once the 62-year-old and his roster got on the same page the assumption was that they would round into a serious title contender this spring. Well, that assimilation has gotten off to a very rocky start.
On Thursday night, the Milwaukee Bucks were on the wrong end of a surprise upset to the Memphis Grizzlies, 113-110. The defeat was stunning since the Grizzlies are without superstar Ja Morant for the rest of the season and are near the bottom of the latest NBA standings. The loss dropped the Bucks to 3-7 since Rivers took over as head coach.
- Doc Rivers record (Career): 1100-770
Doc Rivers blasts Milwaukee Bucks players for being mentally checked out in latest loss
It seems the team’s poor play really got to Rivers and he took his team to task during his post-game press conference, as the one-time NBA Finals winner seemed exhausted and aggravated by the boneheaded decisions of his players against the Grizzlies.
“First play of the game, we gamble for the 50th time in the corner. Guy drives, we have to help, leads to a 3. On our set, two guys forget what we’re running. Then we missed a shot and nobody gets back,” Rivers exclaimed. “That’s how we start out the third quarter. That tells you all you need to know about where our heads were … We had some guys here, we had some guys in Cabo.”
Some strong comments from Rivers as he suggested a few of his players were checked out and mentally already on their All-Star break vacations instead of being locked into the game. It will be interesting to see how his mostly veteran team reacts to the critique when they return to action after the break.
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