It Took Just 2 Games For Doc Rivers To Start Blaming His Players After An Embarrassing Loss

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When the Bucks decided to fire their head coach just 43 games into the season, their main reason was the team felt that Adrian Griffin was not going to be good enough once the playoffs rolled around to help the Bucks win a title. OK, that's fine. That was their choice. 

Forget for a fact that they fired the guy who won them a title because they felt like he couldn't make in game adjustments and adapt, so they hired Griffin. Well after firing Griffin, they decided to get into the Doc Rivers business, you know, someone who is sort of famous for a lack of playoff adjustments and coming up short when it matters most, outside of 2008. An interesting choice, but we heard all about how Doc is great with stars and Doc was going to fix everything.

Well, after losing to the Blazers on the road and allowing the 29th ranked offense in the NBA to score 119 points to spoil Dame's return, things aren't exactly off to the hottest start. 

that's just the offensive side too. Defensively? The Bucks have had a 117 Drtg (20th) over their last two games which is right where their season average is (116.4, 19th). As of now, how much is actually different even though they kicked Adrian Griffin to the curb?

Now let's be fair here. 2 games is nothing. Remember, the Clippers started 0-6 with Harden in the lineup and now look at where the Clippers are. When you have change like this and probably haven't even really practiced, things take time. 

The problem is we're already seeing the Doc Rivers experience. As someone who lived through it, I'm not sure Bucks fans truly understood what they signed up for. How did things look against DEN when the Bucks blew their double digit lead? Did the defense tighten up? Were their in game adjustments? Last night a healthy Bucks team had trouble putting away the 15-33 Blazers team and Docs fingerprints were all over it.

All you have to do is look at how last night's game ended. First, with the Brook Lopex play

Everyone knows the reason you trade for Damian Lillard is so that he can be completely ignored in the biggest moments of the game, where the Bucks need a clutch time bucket. Oh, and it just so happens to be on his return to his old stomping grounds. That's tough, but I imagine Lopez had a false sense of confidence after knocking down some earlier threes. Once he put the ball on the floor, you HAVE to pass it back to Dame there.

Not really sure what was discussed in that timeout, but it clearly wasn't "nobody else but Dame and Giannis shoot this ball", and the play itself didn't really have a counter once the Blazers decided to send more attention to Dame.

If that wasn't bad enough, there was the final inbounds play with 5 seconds left down 3 points. You know what you need in that spot? A three. You know who's awesome at buzzer beater 3PA? Damian Lillard. So what did we get?

An attempt at the same game winner Dame had against the Kings, the only difference there is this time Brook didn't run to the ball (you can see Giannis point). Also, doing this down 3 is very different from being down 2 like the Kings, and as you can see Giannis doesn't give the ball back and is easily fouled. Just a bonehead play from everyone involved. The reasoning Doc gave for this is even more bizarre

I dunno, if you need a make one/miss one, maybe make sure the 92% FT shooter is the one taking it. Anyone can miss on purpose, clearly not everyone can make the first. 

When it came to discussing that Lopez shot, Doc did what he loves to do, he wasted no time throwing him under the bus

Tell me that's not exactly like his Sixers press conference when they just blamed Ben Simmons for everything? Where's the accountability over the play call? Even if he's right, that's not exactly how you win over your new locker room. Take the hit as the coach. Say you need to be better and put the guys in a better position. Anything is better than 

"yeah, guys, I want you to know I WANTED it to be for Dame, Lopez is the one who fucked up"

It's classic Doc. No mention of the fact that he burned through all his timeouts way too early so he had nothing for the final moments. No real accountability.  

Given the fact that the Bucks have one of the hardest remaining schedules in the league after their cakewalk start, it's not time to panic or anything but it's certainly not the start I imagine the team and the franchise thought they'd have by bringing Doc in. When in reality, they are getting exactly what Doc is, and every fanbase of his previous stops could have told you what was coming. The Cavs and Knicks are rolling, so it's not as if the Bucks have a ton of wiggle room to figure stuff out. That's what made this whole situation so bizarre, but this is what they asked for. 

When you willingly hire Doc, this is just part of the deal.