What could (and should) be the final nail in the coffin of Doc Rivers’ head coaching tenure with the Bucks has just been hammered. Things have gone from bad to worse in this short season for the Bucks. After an 8-5 start that saw them in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race, the team has collapsed. They lost seven games in a row (four without Giannis Antetokounmpo) and just lost to the now 3-16 Wizards without Alex Sarr, Corey Kispert, and Tre Johnson. The losses to the 76ers, Pistons, and Heat were all understandable without Giannis and Kevin Porter Jr. Those teams will likely end up in the top half of the conference. Yet, a loss to the worst team in the conference and likely the league, with a healthy Giannis and KPJ (who had 30 points), is flat-out inexcusable.
Adrian Griffin was fired even after barely beating a bad Pistons team. Granted, there were a myriad of other reasons Griffin was let go, but there comes a point to draw a line in the sand. If you listen to Deer Diaries, the last episode I was on, you’d know I said that Doc Rivers could be and should be fired if they lost or if the game was close against the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday. That was my line in the sand, but once he cleared that one, I figured that the Wizards would follow the same result. The thought never crossed my mind that the Bucks might lose this game, with second matchups against Detroit and Philly on the way this week. Yet, here they sit, the Bucks are 9-13, going 5-12 since that magical 4-1 start, with wins over the Knicks and Warriors (also the last time they won consecutive games). Monday may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back, but it’s more than just one game that has justified this conclusion for Rivers to be fired. From the lack of energy and focus at times, the head-scratching lineups and rotations, the lack of creativity on offense and defense, and the failure to utilize the talent he does have to its best.
If you’ve read or listened to my friend and fellow Brew Hooper, Jack, he has lambasted the late-game offense this season, and rightly so. It made sense last season that you had Damian Lillard and Giannis, keeping it simple with a pick-and-roll between the pair or an isolation play for Dame. The now-former Buck is one of the best isolation players in the league and bailed the Bucks out when they needed a bucket. Now, without him, they are still running those same isolation plays for the best player. With the game on the line versus the Pacers and Hornets, all they did was give the ball to Giannis and have him isolate. It worked against the Pacers but didn’t against the Hornets, and it triggered a butterfly effect that led to a blowout loss to the Lakers the next day. The same thing happened with Giannis out against the 76ers. Doc confirmed that the play was supposed to be an iso for Ryan Rollins, but they messed it up. That also leads to what became synonymous with Rivers over the years: choking away games. The Bucks have played in 13 clutch-time games, which the NBA defines as games within five points or fewer in the final four minutes; they are 6-7 in those games. Here’s what happened in those seven losses:
- Within three of the Cavaliers with 2:41 to go in game three of the season.
- A chance to win it down one with 27 seconds left against the Kings before Giannis turned it over. They were up by double digits for the first quarter and most of the second before allowing 71 points after halftime.
- Up four against the Houston Rockets at home.
- Up by two against the 76ers with 14 seconds left, before allowing Tyrese Maxey to tie the game with free throws, then failing to win the game in regulation or overtime.
- A chance to send the game to overtime against the Heat at the buzzer after coming back down by eight with 1:55 left.
- Within three of the Knicks on Friday with 2:37 left.
- Up by 16 points on the Wizards in the third quarter, up by 5 with 2:41 left.
Turn three of those seven games into wins, and the Bucks are 12-10, 0.5 games back of the six-seed and just a game back of the five-seeded Orlando Magic. Instead, they’re 9-13, one game back of the Bulls for the 10th seed and 2.5 games back of the 76ers for the 9th seed. This has been a constant theme for Rivers throughout his coaching career, even during his days with the Celtics and the Big Three of Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett. All those blown series with the Clippers, Sixers, and even Magic when he got his first head coaching gig.
Throughout the 11 home games that I’ve been able to cover, I’ve noticed a running theme that whenever they lose, or even when they win, Doc talks about how the team lost focus in terms of what they are supposed to be doing. Whether it’s letting the ball stick on offense, a defensive assignment, or a game plan, they lose focus. Even last night against the Wizards, he talked about the lack of focus on after-timeout plays. That can’t happen at the professional level, where the players lose focus on what they’re supposed to be doing. It’s the head coach’s job to ensure the players are executing to the best of they ability at all times. Plays are going to break down, and it’s not going to be perfect, but those should only happen because the other team ran a great play to beat whatever they’re trying to do. Having to constantly remind this team to move the ball on offense or execute a take foul while you’re up by two shouldn’t happen. That’s partially on the players for not doing it, but it also shows a lack of accountability from the head coach to make sure they keep doing the right things.
As for the game plan, coming into the season, they seemed to fit right in with what they wanted to do with all the offseason shakeup. Move the ball more, run in transition, be more athletic, protect the rim, and use Myles Turner as more than just a Brook Lopez clone offensively. None of that has come through, with the Bucks sitting at 22nd in pace, 16th in offensive rating, 22nd in defensive rating, 11th in assists per game, and 19th in fast break points. From the eye test, I can’t think of one possession I’ve seen where Myles Turner gets the ball on the elbow and is allowed to operate there. His job has been relegated to shooting threes while standing still, setting a screen, or engaging in a dribble hand-off. Defensively, Turner hasn’t been used well either, with the Bucks running a ton of zone and not using Turner correctly in P&R defense, allowing 1.37 points per possession to the roll man—the worst in the league.
As for the offense, Doc spoke before the season to ESPN’s Tim Legler about how he wants two actions on every single half-court possession. They even showed an example from the prior season, and when I saw that, I felt like Doc understood his personnel this season. Coming into the season, that hasn’t happened at all. I couldn’t tell you what other actions the Bucks run in the half-court other than P&Rs and DHOs. There’s very little off-ball screening for shooters, and most possessions devolve into the ball handler trying to make a play while four other players stand around waiting for the ball. It’s the same type of play from last year, except they don’t have an All-NBA guard to conduct it with. That’s no slam to Rollins or KPJ, who are pretty good players and can navigate the P&R; they’re just not as good as Dame was. It seems as if Doc wants to run his game plan, and not throw in wrinkles or nuance based on his roster.
The time has come for Doc Rivers as the Bucks’ coach, a position he probably shouldn’t have even had in the first place. Granted, not all of this falls on him, with Dame tearing his Achilles and Giannis being injured in the playoffs. Yet, this season has proved, more than any, that the league has passed Rivers by. He’s now a below-average coach who doesn’t have the scheme to deal with a less-talented roster. Bucks fans, now you know how Green Bay Packer fans felt during the final years of Mike McCarthy. We’ll have to wait and see if they can find their Matt LaFleur. In the meantime, Darvin Ham would get the interim tag, and maybe that would bring the Bucks back closer to what they were under Mike Budenholzer. Perhaps that’s a pipe dream, maybe that’s coping with the reality that this Bucks team will be fighting for a play-in spot all year while also having to fend off constant Giannis trade rumors. Regardless, Doc cannot be the Bucks’ head coach moving forward if they want any chance of salvaging this season and beyond.
