Former NBA Coach Calls Bucks a “Finals Team”- Just What the Doctor Ordered
The Milwaukee Bucks continue to seem like they might have things a little more figured out. So it would make sense if people around the NBA would see that as well. Former NBA coaches can say the darndest things.
Doc Rivers is an accomplished NBA coach. He won an NBA championship as the coach of the Boston Celtics in the 2007-2008 season. He works for ESPN now.
Rivers also played professionally in the league, playing in 864 career games. He played for Atlanta, the Clippers, the Knicks and the Spurs and over his 13-year playing career averaged close to 11 points a game (10.9). He is the definition of an NBA “players coach” having played the game and is now a former NBA Coach turned analyst.
Rivers was recently quoted as saying:
I have them in the finals… they are going to figure out how to play with Giannis and Dame. They both are playing well at times, but they have not (fully) figured that out.
Dec. 12th “The Bill Simmons Podcast”
Rivers continues on:
They have no rhythm yet. It is going to take a minute or two to figure it out. The process- how to make each other better? I think right now they (Giannis and Lillard) are both playing to be better but not to make each other better. It is going to come; it is going to click. When it does it makes it easy for everyone else on the floor.
Related: Is there a Doctor in the House?
Where do the Milwaukee Bucks stand today?
So far, so good. The Bucks are the 3 seed in the East.
At (16-7) and first-place in the Central Division, they take on the (13-8) second-place Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night. Labeled a revenge game, many think it could really be “Dame Time”. The game tips off at a normal time of 7pm CST and the game should be broadcast live on Bally’s Sports. Milwaukee is favored by 6.5 points. This should be a game for offensive enthusiasts.
Milwaukee is second in the NBA in scoring at 122.6 points per game. The defense and the defensive sets have yet to click.
Milwaukee currently averages 34 defensive rebounds a game, tied for 6th overall in the NBA. That is not as great as last year but still is pretty good. So far so good.
More Rivers
Doc Rivers, a former NBA Coach, is still a valued opinion in the NBA today. In that same interview/podcast with Bill Simmons, Rivers had this to say about Milwaukee:
The body language is not great on that team, right? But that is because they have expectations. A lot of times, and it happens all the time, players want to play with each other ‘hey, let’s go get him’ and then they have these expectations and they think they’ll just roll into the season… you have to learn…it takes time. You have to give up stuff. Giannis is handling the ball a lot more, he is probably going to have to handle it less.
Other former NBA coaches might tend to question that as well: why doesn’t the offense roll more through Lillard?
It is nice to be in the good graces of a former NBA Coach. As we enter into the real NBA regular season fans hope that Rivers is a right: a trip to the 2023-2024 NBA Finals would be just what the Doctor ordered.
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