Doc Rivers Told the Bucks to Look Up His Résumé. His Résumé Is the Problem.
Doc Rivers Told the Bucks to Look Up His Résumé. His Résumé Is the Problem.
In March 2026, during a tense team meeting with the Milwaukee Bucks, Doc Rivers reportedly implored his players to “look up his résumé.” According to Shams Charania, Rivers told the locker room: “I took teams to the playoffs and to the championship that weren’t supposed to. I thought this was one of them.”
So let’s look it up.
The One Time It Worked
Rivers won a championship with the Boston Celtics in 2008. Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo. They beat the Lakers in six games. The clinching Game 6 was a 39-point blowout, the largest margin of victory in a championship-clinching game in NBA history. Pierce won Finals MVP.
He went back to the Finals in 2010, held a 3-2 lead over the Lakers, and lost Game 7. He hasn’t been back since.
That was 16 years ago. One ring. That’s the peak of the résumé.
The Collapses
In 2003, Rivers was coaching the Orlando Magic. They were the eighth seed. Tracy McGrady scored 43, 46, 29, and 27 points through the first four games of their first-round series against the top-seeded Detroit Pistons. The Magic went up 3-1. After Game 4, McGrady famously told reporters it felt good to be heading to the second round.
The Pistons won Game 5 by 31 points. They won Game 6 by 15. They won Game 7 by 15. Orlando never made the second round.
In 2015, Rivers was coaching the LA Clippers. Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan. They had the third seed in the West and a 3-1 series lead over the Houston Rockets in the conference semifinals. In Game 6, the Clippers led by 19 points in the third quarter. Houston outscored them 51-20 the rest of the way. Josh Smith scored 14 of his 19 in the fourth quarter. Corey Brewer came off the bench and wouldn’t miss. James Harden was sitting down.
Game 7 in Houston: Rockets won 113-100. The Clippers never made the conference finals under Rivers.
In 2020, Rivers was still coaching the Clippers. Kawhi Leonard and Paul George this time. They led the Denver Nuggets 3-1 in the Western Conference semifinals inside the Orlando bubble. They blew double-digit leads in each of the last three games. In Game 7, Nikola Jokic posted a triple-double and Jamal Murray scored 40 points. Leonard and George combined for 24 points on 10-of-38 shooting. They missed all 11 of their fourth-quarter attempts. Nuggets won 104-89.
Rivers was fired. His explanation: “They wanted to go home more than they wanted to win.”
Three years later, he was coaching the Philadelphia 76ers. Joel Embiid had just won MVP. The Sixers held a 3-2 lead over the Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals. In Game 7, Jayson Tatum scored 51 points, a Game 7 record. The Sixers scored 10 points in the third quarter, tied for the fewest in a Game 7 quarter in the shot clock era. Embiid finished with 15 points on 5-of-18 shooting. James Harden had 9 on 3-of-11. Final score: Celtics 112, Sixers 88.
Rivers was fired again.
The Numbers
Three blown 3-1 series leads. No other coach in NBA history has blown more than one. Rivers has done it three times.
His Game 7 record is 6-10. Ten Game 7 losses. The most by any coach in NBA history. No other coach has more than five.
Since 2015, Rivers is 0-9 in potential series-clinching games in the second round. Zero for nine. Over an 11-year stretch, every time one of his teams has had a chance to put a second-round opponent away, they have failed.
That’s the résumé he told his players to look up.
Milwaukee
On January 23, 2024, the Milwaukee Bucks fired head coach Adrian Griffin. The team was 30-13, the second-best record in the NBA. They hired Doc Rivers.
Rivers went 17-19 to finish the season. The Bucks dropped from second in the East to third. They lost to the Indiana Pacers in the first round.
The following season, Rivers had a full offseason to implement his system. The Bucks went 48-34, earned the sixth seed, and drew the Pacers again. They lost again, this time in five games. Damian Lillard tore his Achilles in Game 4. The Bucks waived him that summer.
This season, without Lillard and with Giannis Antetokounmpo missing 42 games due to injuries, including a knee hyperextension and bone bruise in mid-March that effectively ended his year, the Bucks are 31-47. They’ve missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016, ending a nine-year streak.
Since Rivers took over from Griffin, Milwaukee’s combined record is 96-100. He inherited a team that was 30-13 and has a losing record since.
Jae Crowder, who played on the team before the coaching change, put it simply: “We were 30-13 btw.”
“I’ve Never Come Up Short”
In October 2024, Rivers sat down with The Athletic’s Eric Nehm and addressed the growing criticism head-on.
“I’ve never come up short, in my opinion,” he said.
When asked about the three blown 3-1 series leads, he told Andscape: “I don’t get enough credit for getting the three wins.”
On April 4, after the locker room tensions became public, Rivers told reporters: “This is a grown man’s game and it should be handled that way by everybody.”
The Bucks are 31-47. His players have reportedly lost confidence in him. The front office reportedly regrets hiring him. The expectation around the league is that he’ll be fired. Taylor Jenkins is already emerging as a leading candidate to replace him. And in August, Rivers will walk into Springfield, Massachusetts, and be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as one of the greatest coaches the game has ever seen.
Doc Rivers told his players to look up his résumé. His résumé is one championship in 2008, three blown 3-1 series leads, more Game 7 losses than any coach in history, two firings, and a team that went from 30-13 to 96-100 on his watch. He’s also a Hall of Famer.
He told the Bucks to look it up. They probably wish they hadn’t.
A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
