SPORTSLINE

Doc Rivers has officially been named the next head coach for the Milwaukee Bucks, the franchise said Friday.
The hiring comes after the Bucks fired first-year head coach Adrian Griffin after 43 games (despite a 30-13-win loss record…not at all bad for a first-year head coach!). Unfortunately, the players lost faith in Griffin’s coaching capabilities and his veteran players were never on the same page as him. Griffin’s inability to ever gain the full trust of his star players led general manager Jon Horst and Co. to conclude that he wasn’t the right man for the job, regardless of what the record said. Bucks General Manager Jon Horst said in a statement Griffin’s firing was a “difficult decision to make during the season.” Ihn comes Doc Rivers whom the Bucks have had their eye on the past few months. Doc Rivers has also served as the head coach of the Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Clippers, and Boston Celtics, who he led to an NBA championship in 2008. Doc Rivers was coaching the first NBA game that Giannis Antetokounmpo remembers seeing on television. Antetokounmpo was a teenager at the time watching Rivers coach the Boston Celtics’ 2008 NBA Finals victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.

Thirteen years later, Antetokounpmo would have his own NBA title after leading the Milwaukee Bucks to their first championship in half a century. Now he’s getting a chance to be coached by the same man who left such a big impression on him watching that first basketball game. Now the two of them are trying to win another championship together.