There has been a lot of negativity thrown in the direction of Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers of late. To a certain extent, it’s hard to argue that the veteran shot-caller deserves some of the criticism, considering how the Bucks suffered defeat in six out of their last eight regular season games.
Bucks swingman Pat Connaughton believes, however, that some of the fault-finding has been uncalled for. The veteran has now come to his coach’s defense as Connaughton called out Rivers’ naysayers.
Milwaukee Bucks News: Pat Connaughton Sends Strong Message Amid Doc Rivers Criticism
According to Connaughton, Rivers’ resume should speak for itself. The one-time NBA champion coach has led his team to the Playoffs in 19 out of his 24 seasons in the league. This record in itself is a remarkable achievement, and one that has Rivers recognized as one of the greatest coaches in the history of the game.
“The interesting thing to me is, I know how a bunch of talking heads will talk about some of the negative things because that’s what social media is and they like to do, but you talk about the success that he’s had and the ability that he’s had to get teams into positions to win, whether they’ve closed or not,” Connaughton said, via Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I look at our team and I look at the situation that he’s coming into, we get to those situations, I think we got a really good chance to close.”
Connaughton did touch on Rivers’ less-than-spectacular track record. The 62-year-old has won the title just once in his career, which means that the other 18 times he’s been in the Playoffs had resulted in heartbreaking exits.
Connaughton believes, however, that the situation is much different in Milwaukee. As he said, this team is more than capable of closing a series when they have to — just like they did throughout their majestic championship run in 2021.
It all starts on Sunday in Game 1 of their first-round matchup against the Indiana Pacers.
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