Doc Rivers is an established veteran head coach. He has won Coach of the Year, coached teams to the NBA Finals twice, and snagged one championship along the way. Yet, he’s also the only coach in NBA history to blow 3-1 leads on three different occasions.
First, there was 2003 with the Orlando Magic, where they blew a 3-1 lead to the Detroit Pistons. Then came 2015 with the Los Angeles Clippers, losing a 3-1 lead to the Houston Rockets. And of course, the infamous 2020 bubble series with the Kawhi Leonard-led Clippers, when they blew another 3-1 lead to the Denver Nuggets.
Those blown leads are now part of Rivers’ coaching legacy, and they aren’t likely to fade from memory anytime soon. But now, the veteran head coach is stepping up and defending himself. He’s had enough of the criticism and says he doesn’t get enough credit for winning three games in those series.
“No one tells a real story. And I’m fine with that. It’s unfair in some ways. I don’t get enough credit for getting the three wins. I get credit for losing. I always say, ‘What if we had lost to Houston in six?’ No one cares. One of the things that I’m proud of is we’ve never been swept. All the coaches have been swept in the playoffs. My teams achieve. A lot of them overachieve and I’m very proud of that.”
