Doc Rivers can tie Phil Jackson for the seventh-most coaching wins all-time with one more win.
His Milwaukee Bucks will have the first opportunity to give Rivers win No. 1,154 on Monday night against the Phoenix Suns. The task will be more difficult with Damian Lillard set to miss out the contest with right calf soreness.
Gregg Popovich has the most wins all-time with 1,419, followed by Don Nelson at 1,335 and Lenny Wilkens with 1,332.
Rivers has been a head coach for 26 years and has a win percentage of .587 in the regular season. His teams have made two conference finals, most famously in 2008 when the Boston Celtics went on to win the NBA championship.
Ironically, Rivers was coaching against Jackson in the Finals series as the Celtics defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in seven games.
“I just don’t count them [wins],” Rivers told Andscape’s Marc Spears in an exclusive interview. “If you hadn’t told me, I would not have known. My job is to win. I’ve done that and that’s all I do.”
Over the course of his coaching tenure, Rivers has coached the Orlando Magic, Celtics, L.A. Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers, and now the Bucks.
Rivers also has an NBA Cup title to his name, earned this season when the Bucks defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder in the final. The most regular season wins he has had in a regular season is 66, with the Celtics in 2007-08.
Rivers Gearing Up For Another Title Run
Rivers is focused on the here and now and winning a title with Milwaukee.
He was hired after Adrian Griffin was let go, the Bucks hoping to maximize the potential of a Giannis Antetokounmpo-Damian Lillard pairing.
Milwaukee is currently fifth in the East at 40-30, a game behind the Indiana Pacers for home court advantage. The Pacers knocked out the Bucks last postseason with Antetokounmpo missing out through injury. The Detroit Pistons are not too far behind in sixth at 40-32.
Still, Rivers saw enough during the NBA Cup to believe in this team’s potential.
“No. 1 is health. But this team is an interesting team,” Rivers said. “We have proven on given points that we can beat anybody. They decided they were going to win the [NBA] Cup and no one was going to beat us. But then we go backwards. The injury thing has hurt us. Having Bobby [Portis] out sucks. Having Jericho [Sims] out.”
Rivers’ Coaching Legacy Comes With Both Good And Bad
A championship is forever and Rivers will always have that. He also currently has the record for the most blown 3-1 series leads (four times) and that’s something he can’t escape, either.
It’s all part and parcel of having coached for a long time. When looking back on it all, Rivers appreciates the great times even if the bad memories persist. He considers losing Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals to the Lakers as the toughest one to get over.
“It’s not just about him. It just means that I’ve had a long [run],” Rivers said. “You don’t coach this many years and get to the number that I’ve gotten to without having a lot of success. I’ve coached a lot of teams that haven’t made it but have overachieved. I have a lot of favorite teams. My first team (the 1999-2000 Magic), they picked us to break the Sixers’ record. And we go 41-41.
“One of my teams in LA with the Clips, they trade Tobias [Harris] in the middle of the season [in 2019]. We’re literally tanking. We make the playoffs and we take Golden State to six games. We have the largest comeback in a playoff game. I have the largest comeback in Finals history [2008]. So those are the things you remember. You really do.”
