Criticized for several years already, it is not the start of the Bucks season which will silence the skeptics concerning Doc Rivers. The Milwaukee coach cannot yet get his team going, which lost to Boston for the third time in four matches.
The technician also took advantage of his time in Massachusetts to look back on his departure from the Celtics in 2013. After a successful career there: a title in 2008 and the Finals in 2010.
“Yeah, I think about what it could have been…I thought about it my first year with the Clippers. Maybe I had made a mistake.” he remembers. “But then I didn’t think about it anymore. One of the things I never do is look back. I never do it. »
“I am the eighth winningest coach in the history of the regular season, the fourth in the playoffs”
The Celtics began a rebuild starting in 2013, without Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, with Brad Stevens on the bench. A new cycle which will become very positive with the arrivals of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum and which, in a way, concluded with the 2024 title.
“Maybe it’s the only thing that could have made me stay.” I kept thinking that if I stayed, we would get back together,” believes Doc Rivers. “We knew we were going to rebuild, that things were going to go well. After nine seasons in a team, you have the feeling that they heard your speech, but the players change. I tell myself that perhaps I have thought too much about this subject, but that's how it is, we can't go back. »
The rest of the coach's career, at the Clippers then at the Sixers, was not as successful as in Boston. However, as he did before the start of the season, he still defends his record.
“Everywhere I went, I won matches. I got fired from Philadelphia with 65% winning in three years,” he recalls. “My heritage suits me well. I am the eighth winningest coach in the history of the regular season, the fourth in the playoffs, so I have had a great career. I want more. This is why I continue. »
