The Milwaukee Bucks are slowly ruining everything they built from the beginning of this season. Currently on a two-game losing streak, they have lost four of the last five games. Recently, Gilbert Arenas expressed his disappointment with the team on the ‘Gil’s Arena’ podcast. The NBA veteran criticized the Bucks coach Doc Rivers for consistently failing to do his job.
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Arenas believes that Rivers has some serious issues within the team and needs to figure things out before the playoffs. The back-to-back losses seem worse when considering the teams they faced in the last two games. First, they lost to the Wizards, who are the second-worst team in the east with a 15-62 record, and then they lost to the Grizzlies, who are 13th in the west with a 26-50 record. These types of blunders from the second-best team in the east, with a 47-29 record, so far, are disappointing.
When Arenas was asked his opinion on the current Bucks situation, he snapped out of his sleep and said, “I was Doc Rivers, baby. I was sleeping on the job. [Rivers is] just collecting his check, because ain’t no damn way he’s coaching, I can tell you that for sure.”
The NBA veteran believes Rivers lacks conviction in his approach and is often lazy with his interest in the game leading them to this situation. He said that the coach is focusing too much on “keeping notes” to use them as excuses instead of focusing on how to get his team out of this slump. Arenas said that Rivers wanted a coaching job, and now that he has one, he’s not doing it well enough even with a strong team.
The Milwaukee Bucks under Doc Rivers
Rivers’ appointment as the head coach for the Bucks came out of nowhere for the fans. Adrian Griffin coached the team for the first 43 games and then suddenly he was fired, and Rivers was asked to replace him in Milwaukee. It wouldn’t be unfair to say that after his arrival, the Bucks have performed worse than before. Since his takeover, the Milwaukee franchise has had a 15-15 record, whereas Griffin had a 30-13 record before he was fired.
On the road, the Bucks’ record gets worse under Rivers’ coaching as they are 7-11 in 18 games, and they’re only behind nine teams on the worst record by a team on the road list. The criticism might sound a bit harsh for Rivers, but the fact is that he is not doing a good job with the kind of team that’s handed to him. If they’re not careful, they’ll have a tough time moving past the playoffs.
