The Milwaukee Bucks are in second place in the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Eastern Conference (31-13) for the 2023-2024 season, three games behind the first-place Boston Celtics (34-10).
However, Milwaukee fired head coach Adrian Griffin, 50, on April 24, and hired former Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers, 63, on April 25. The current second-place finish in the East is not good enough.
Milwaukee had the best winning percentage of all 30 NBA teams last season (.707-58-24). They made the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the East and were swept in the first round by the No. 8 seed Miami Heat in four games.
Milwaukee, which was expected to win a championship, fired head coach Mike Budenholzer, 55, to take responsibility for the unexpected slump. 바카라사이트 Upon his arrival in the 2018-2019 season, Budenholzer led the team to the top spot in the Eastern Conference in the regular season and the Eastern Finals (runner-up) in the playoffs. In 2021, he led the team to a third-place finish in the regular season and a championship.
Milwaukee hired Griffin, a former Toronto Raptors coach, to replace Budenholzer after five seasons.
Milwaukee also acquired Damian Lillard (34-188 cm) in a trade from Portland to bolster its frontcourt ahead of the start of the season. The addition of Lillard, the 2013 Rookie of the Year and one of the league’s top point guards, makes Milwaukee a serious contender.
Milwaukee is tied with the Indiana Pacers for first in the East in points per game this season (124.6), but ranks just 11th out of 15 teams in points allowed (120.4). It’s 25th out of 30 East-West teams.
Distrustful of Griffin’s leadership, Milwaukee agreed to a contract with head coach Doc Rivers after he was fired. Rivers has been a head coach for four teams, starting with the Orlando Magic in 1999. His 1097-763 career record ranks ninth all-time among NBA head coaches.
He tasted his only championship as head coach of the Boston Celtics, defeating the Phil Jackson-led Los Angeles Lakers in the 2008 championship game. In the 2020-2021 season with the Los Angeles Clippers, they were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs after finishing first in the East in the regular season. 안전놀이터 He made the playoffs in nine of his 10 seasons with the Clippers and Philadelphia 76ers, but was eliminated in the first or second round each time.
Milwaukee won its third straight game, defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers 126-116 on Dec. 25, the day the news of Rivers’ hiring was announced. All-Star Janis Adetokunbo (30-211 cm) led the offense with 35 points (18 rebounds) and Damian Lillard added 28 points (4 assists).