Tuesday’s Eastern Conference showdown between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Miami Heat was an opportunity for two of the greatest coaches in league history to battle it out in an on-court chess match. Only one of them could prevail, and it wasn’t Doc Rivers.
Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra put in another masterclass as he guided the shorthanded and Jimmy Butler-less Heat to a 123-97 blowout win at the Fiserv Forum. At this point, there’s no denying that Coach Spo is one of the greatest tacticians this sport has ever seen.
Milwaukee Bucks Coach Doc Rivers Speaks Out on Heat Culture
Before the game started, Doc Rivers joked that Spoelstra had given him “all the secrets.” This was in reference to Rivers covering Miami’s matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers earlier in the season when he was still part of ESPN’s broadcast crew.
Rivers admitted that he felt a bit aggrieved by how the Heat just kept unearthing young, low-profile players that eventually prove to be key players on their squad:
“Just Miami does it again,” Rivers said about Miami youngsters Nikola Jovic and Jaime Jaquez Jr. “It’s funny, I was not even in a competitive role, honestly, but it pissed me off. Like how do they keep getting these guys in the 20s? They keep doing it.
“And basically the reason is, and I even asked Erik this — and that time he would tell me, I don’t think he would tell me any more — they kind of target guys that fit their culture and the way they want to play.”
Rookie Jamie Jaquez Jr. caught the eye of Coach Doc. True enough, the 22-year-old played a key role in Miami’s win on Monday night, finishing with 12 points, three rebounds, and four assists off the bench.
“Jaquez, I mean, he’s the perfect fit for who they are and how they want to be,” Rivers said of the wing selected to play in Friday night’s Rising Stars competition at All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis. “You know, it’s funny, I think certain guys actually target them, ‘Man, I’d fit in this system.’ Utah did that for years with Jerry Sloan. They kept doing it.”
Jaquez is just the latest of Miami’s long line of young studs. Based on how they operate, there’s likely going to be more of them in the future.
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