“Weakest Playoff Coach With The Most Experience”: Gilbert Arenas Goes In On Doc Rivers’ Subpar Bucks Debut

The Milwaukee Bucks played their first game on Monday night with Doc Rivers as their head coach. Unfortunately, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 29-point, 12-rebound double-double wasn’t enough to prevent the Denver Nuggets from spoiling Rivers’ coaching debut with the Bucks. Talking about the Bucks’ loss, Gilbert Arenas was merciless when ripping apart their new head coach.

On the latest episode of Gil’s Arena, the panel had an in-depth conversation regarding the results of Doc Rivers’ coaching debut for the Milwaukee Bucks. After Gilbert Arenas learned about the loss, he made a cheeky comment stating that the 2021 champions managed to win a game without any coach (on 27^th Jan) but suffered a loss with Rivers as the coach.

“So they won without a coach and lost with one,” Rivers said.

Later, once the host Josiah Johnson asked whether or not the other teams in the league would “Fear the Deer” with a new head coach, Arenas couldn’t stop ripping apart Rivers. Agent Zero shed light on Doc’s awful record in the postseason.

“If we were coaches and we were coaching against Doc Rivers in the playoffs, and he’s up 3-1, there’s not one coach that he will be going against that will say ‘this is going to be our last game. Get this next one we get just the next one and make it 3-2 the series favors us’… Probably the weakest playoff coach with the most experience,” Arenas said.

Arenas did come off as a detractor. However, he isn’t wrong about the fact that the 62-year-old coach has a terrible record in the postseason. Over a 20-year career, teams coached by Rivers have blown three 3-1 leads and four 3-2 leads. In Game 7s, Rivers has an awful 6-10 record.

However, Rivers does not deserve such strong criticism right off the bat. The man merely got a slightly more than a day with his new team. Furthermore, they went up against the defending champions who are in terrific form. In all probability, the Bucks would’ve anyways suffered a loss had there been a different coach.

Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett talk about the Milwaukee Bucks hiring Doc Rivers

The Milwaukee Bucks hiring Doc Rivers within a few days after Adrian Griffin led to the basketball world being suspicious. Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce are among the many who seemed to be baffled by the entire process.

Despite being part of the Doc Rivers-led Boston Celtics championship team in 2008, both Pierce and Garnett believed that the Bucks’ changes in the coaching staff seemed fishy. KG suspected that foul play was involved.

“Listen, this feels like tampering, low-key. This feels like tampering, I’m just saying. So, what? I had Doc on speed dial?”

Adding on to his former teammate’s accusations, Pierce revealed how the Bucks front office had Rivers on board as a consultant all season long. By connecting the dots, The Truth concluded that Doc could’ve very well been responsible for the abrupt firing of Adrian Griffin.

“They said he was consulting during the whole process. No, this is what I read. I don’t know what’s true. So they saying, all year he been acting as a consultant for the staff of Milwaukee. So, that’s why when Griffin got fired, the turnaround was so quick. It was like either the assistant or you got Doc in the rearview mirror,” Pierce claimed.

Despite the entire timeline seeming a bit suspicious, the league is not investigating this issue. Now, fans will divert their focus back to the team’s performance on the hardwood and hope that this mid-season coaching works out in their favor.