"We didn't win a title?" - Doc Rivers rebuts coaching critiques underscoring his championship & career achievements
Despite being recognized as one of the 15 greatest coaches in league history, Doc Rivers' NBA coaching career is often downplayed due to his postseason shortcomings. His teams have blown several series leads and struggled in elimination games.
However, Rivers said that despite these painful losses, he has never fallen short. In an article by The Athletic's Eric Nehm, the veteran head coach offered a response to his critics.
He cited his NBA championship as one of the reasons why fans are wrong about him.
"I've never come up short, in my opinion," Rivers was quoted as saying. "Come up short? What does that mean? Like, we didn’t win a title?"
Rivers also talked about how he nearly led the Philadelphia 76ers to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021, his first year leading the team, after they were swept in the opening round the year prior. According to him, these are examples of how he never came up short.
Doc Rivers has been coaching for 25 seasons, registering a regular season record of 1114-782. He has coached two 60-win teams, both with the Boston Celtics in 2007-08 and 08-09, and won Coach of the Year in 2000.
His coaching record in the playoffs isn't quite as stellar. In total, he has a 113-108 win-loss record in the postseason. He's only reached the Finals twice and has a 1-1 record. His one win came in 2008 when he coached the big three of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce to their only title together.
Last season, Doc Rivers was brought in to replace Milwaukee Bucks coach Adrian Griffin who led the Bucks to a 30-13 record. The team went 17-19 in their remaining games with Rivers at the helm.
Also read: Doc Rivers gives key update on Khris Middleton's availability for Bucks' season-opening game vs 76ers
NBA fans disagree with Doc Rivers' statement on never coming up short
Fans have always been hard on Doc Rivers for his shortcomings, and that did not change after his recent statement. Many fans on X (formerly Twitter) shared their reactions to Rivers' assertion.
Several fans claimed the veteran head coach lacked accountability.
"This dude REFUSES to take any accountability," one said.
"Never his fault. Even when blowing 3-1 series leads without making coaching adjustments," another chimed in.
"His lack of accountability is the reason why he choked away so many games," one person said.
Meanwhile, other fans were quick to point out how he had come up short in the past.
"The guy who has blown 3-1 leads 3 different times has never came up short??" one person tweeted.
"Isn’t he literally known for choking playoff leads?" another asked.
"One game away means you came up short," one person said.
In league history, there have been 13 blown 3-1 leads in the playoffs. Three of these belong to Doc Rivers. Two of these happened when he was coaching the LA Clippers (2015 and 2020), and the other one was when he coached the Orlando Magic in 2003.