Hall of Fame coach Doc Rivers’s career includes a Celtics championship, some what-ifs, and few regrets – The Boston Globe
And finally in Milwaukee, Rivers tried pushing an old Bucks team into contention with a banged-up Giannis Antetokounmpo, but that appeared doomed from the start. Rivers’s resume would be elite with another championship or two, and he’s resigned to the fact some of those playoff shortcomings in Los Angeles are partially to be blamed on him.
But Rivers is proud of his accomplishments, including just four losing seasons and 21 playoff appearances in 27 years.
“You go through a lot of crap. Like that’s part of your life,” Rivers told the Globe of resurrecting franchises. “When I left Boston and I went to the Clippers, my goal was I had two goals. One was to turn that franchise into a real freaking franchise. I mean you can make a case I went from the best franchise in basketball to the worst. By the time I left, the Clippers were a destination that players wanted to go to.”
The Clippers lost 3-1 playoff series leads to the Rockets in 2015 and the Nuggets in the 2020 NBA Bubble. The Bubble loss was the most devastating because it was the first year of the Kawhi Leonard–Paul George pairing, and a series win would have meant a fascinating clash with the rival Lakers in the Western Conference finals. It never happened.
But he has few regrets.
“Winning a title, I didn’t accomplish that and we had some just brutal games where we almost got over the hump and didn’t get over the hump,” he said. “That’s just part of your legacy that you live with, but damn, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Like I would go through that all again to have the chance to do it. Like only one team wins, and like Bill Belichick [told] me, either you land the plane or it’s a crash landing.
“I mean that’s dramatic, but that’s how I try to operate. I’ve never handled [losing] well. I wish I could have done that better. Like if I have one regret, you know. I don’t have a lot of regrets because my dad was the no victim thing.”
Winning only one championship sticks with Rivers because he had a bunch of talented teams and opportunities to get back to the top. The best was with the Celtics, who lost the Finals in seven games to the Lakers in 2010.
“I think there’s one you can do a lot of winning, but the only thing I was in this for was to be the winner, and I was only that once,” he said. “That’s a harsh [expletive] way of looking at, it is. But that’s part of why you coach, and that’s part of why I was successful, is because of that drive. I wanted to beat people. Yeah, that was it. Why did you do it? Because I’m still loving it, and I love the chase of trying to be the winner.”
Rivers said he had a conversation with a player after an excruciating playoff loss and the player told him, “I don’t know how you can take this pain. This is the closest I’ve ever been, and I’m crushed. I don’t know how you do this. Rivers responded: “Well, it’s the same thing. If you look at this [like] falling in love with the most beautiful person in the world 100 times, and 99 times asking them to marry you, and they say no. But the one time they say yes is worth it. Yeah, it’s worth the 99.”
When Rivers agreed to part ways with the Bucks after a 32-50 finish to last season, he knew the run was over. He’s 64 with seven grandkids. They just enjoyed an entire family celebration in Martha’s Vineyard, and he is at peace with his accomplishments and impact on the game.
“I can tell you late in the year, I knew that. I think I’ve had my run, I still love coaching, and I still love the game, but I just think it’s time for me,” he said. “And part of that, a lot of that, was family stuff. That’s the only toll. Like a family, if you’re going to coach a long time … your family’s going to take the hit. My seven grandkids, honestly, I just feel like I’m the only absentee person. Everybody else is always there, and when my daughter calls or Austin [Rivers’s son, the former NBA player] calls, you’re talking about the grandkids. Oh man, you should have seen Kayden at school today. Or man, Carter wants you to come visit. Like I want to be able to say I’ll be there tomorrow, or I want to have been there, and I want to be able to say yes.
“And the [last] 40 years I’ve not been able to do that, and definitely as a coach, I’ve never been able to do that. And I want to do that. So I want to work, but not as a coach. And I’ll figure that out. I’m going to take my time and see where that goes.”
What the Hall of Fame induction has allowed him to do is celebrate the good times, the relationships, the victories, the franchise turnarounds, the championship.
“I’ve just never been able to do that before,” he said. “I remember Coach [Pat] Riley saying, ‘Man, you need to celebrate the good days better. You need to understand that.’ Yeah, he was right again, and I probably did not do that very well. But I’m trying to celebrate this one. I mean, I have all my coaches. I’ve had all of them, we’ve had conversations, or we’ve had dinners for this last two months. It’s been awesome reminiscing and talking to all of them.
“It’s been really fun, and the players, too. I’ve heard more stories of things that I said, that ‘I’m like I said that?, or I did that?’ And everybody’s dying laughing. I mean, I’m not going to share any of that, but I did some funny stuff over the years.”
TOP FIVE
Brown’s 76ers debut a must-watch
The NBA schedule has been officially released and there are a bunch of intriguing games, player returns such as Jaylen Brown’s to Boston on Jan. 21, and scintillating matchups between title-contending teams.
Here is a look at the most intriguing five games of what should be a fascinating season.
▪ 76ers at Knicks, Oct. 20: It’s an opening night matchup between the two best teams in the Eastern Conference on paper.
Some questions will be answered in this game, such as how will Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse manage the lineups and the minutes for the likes of LeBron James and Embiid. It will also be Brown’s debut with his new team. In New York, the Knicks did little to their championship roster besides replacing Mitchell Robinson (Celtics) with Andre Drummond because they didn’t want to be a second apron team.
The Knicks will be the targets every night because they are the defending champs, and it will be fascinating to see how they deal with such challenges. No NBA team has repeated since the 2017-18 Warriors.
▪ Thunder at Spurs, Oct. 20: The NBA isn’t messing around with the opening night lineup, with the Western Conference rivals meeting after both teams went through offseason changes.
The Thunder didn’t make as many drastic changes as the Celtics to avoid the second apron, but they did trade Aaron Wiggins, Isaiah Joe, and Luguentz Dort to clear cap space, meaning Jared McCain and rookie Aday Mara will be in the mix. Oklahoma City will rely on youthful players and a healthy Jalen Williams to change its fate from last season.
San Antonio hopes De’Aaron Fox can get completely healthy and return to form after a rough NBA Finals. The Spurs also added depth in Tobias Harris, but their hope is that Finals experience helps them take the next step.
▪ Heat at Bucks, Jan. 28: By this time, the Heat should be more of a known quantity with Antetokounmpo joining Bam Adebayo after 13 years in Milwaukee.
This game will be his first time back and it will certainly be emotional, but it was a relationship that was destined to end because the Bucks needed to rebuild. Milwaukee was able to get a haul from Miami in players and draft picks, and should be an emerging team in coming years. But for now, the Bucks will be picked to finish near the bottom of the Eastern Conference.
As for the Heat, they could be a top-six seed or a play-in team, pretty much like the past several years.
▪ Wizards at Hawks, Nov. 6: Not only is this Trae Young’s return game to Atlanta after seven-plus years as its cornerstone, but it will be a chance to take a long look at the new-look Wizards.
Young is joined by Anthony Davis, Alex Sarr, and Brockton native AJ Dybantsa, who should enter the season as a Rookie of the Year favorite. Washington appears ready to take basketball seriously after years of rebuilding.
The Hawks could be the third-best team in the East with their acquisitions of Dort and Wiggins along with a re-signed CJ McCollum. If there is a year for Atlanta to take a step forward, it’s this one. The East, beyond the Knicks and 76ers, is wide open, and the Hawks have made the necessary moves to be a serious contender.
▪ Celtics at Lakers, Jan. 7: Two franchises that made significant offseason changes, and both predicted to take steps back in their respective conferences.
Boston will be led by Jayson Tatum, completely healthy after a remarkable early comeback from the ruptured Achilles, with the likes of Paul George, Derrick White, and Robinson as his supporting cast. The Lakers reshaped their roster by allowing James, Marcus Smart, Rui Hachimura, and Luke Kennard to sign elsewhere, and by moving Deandre Ayton. The new additions are Walker Kessler, Collin Sexton, Quentin Grimes, and Sandro Mamukelashvili for what should be an interesting team but not one likely to compete for the first division of the West.
The Lakers-Celtics rivalry is the league’s best, and this game will have several new characters as both teams try to reload to get back to elite status.
ETC.
Westbrook deserving of accolades
Russell Westbrook’s sudden retirement came as a shock. It was obvious even at the advanced age of 37 that he had plenty left in the tank. Unfortunately for Westbrook, he put himself in a difficult position because of that production.
Would a team in need of a backup point guard take a flyer on Westbrook, knowing he is likely to demand minutes and touches? It appeared the answer was no. And what would be the use for Westbrook to play for a rebuilding team — like last season with the Kings — just to pile up numbers but with no chance of winning an elusive championship.
Westbrook may have been one of the more maligned first-ballot Hall of Famers in NBA history. While he filled up stat sheets, especially with triple-doubles, eventually those numbers were maligned because they didn’t result in team success. He was accused of stat chasing, which can occur when those numbers don’t equate to deep playoff runs. His best chance to win a title was in 2011-12 when the Thunder ran the Heat off the floor in Game 1 in Oklahoma City, but they didn’t win another game in the series.
Westbrook will always be associated with Kevin Durant because of their rise to success in OKC, where each won an MVP. But their breakup was also infamous and turned into a rivalry while playing with competing teams. Durant posted a touching tribute to Westbrook on social media, and Westbrook is receiving the appreciation he truly deserves for being one of the game’s great competitors.
But he averaged 15.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 6.7 assists in 64 games last year for the Kings, so don’t be surprised if he eventually gets a call from a competing team looking for a quality point guard.
Celtics faithful, as well as those who follow the Pistons in Detroit, are wondering about the wacky 3 p.m. start for their season opener on Oct. 20, which will be the league’s first game of the 2026-27 season. It appears the NBA wants to use Boston-Detroit to draw in an international audience, giving fans in Europe a primetime game, which will kickoff a tripleheader that continues with 76ers-Knicks and concludes with Thunder-Spurs. The Celtics also return to the Christmas Day slate with a matchup with Antetokounmpo and the Heat. The league will be monitoring the ratings for that Tuesday afternoon game, hoping it could be the beginning of a tradition to begin the season … Blessings and farewell to the great Don Nelson, who is known around most NBA circles for his coaching prowess and Nellie Ball, leading teams such as the Bucks, Warriors, and Mavericks to success. But in Boston, Nelson was a great Celtics player, notching 11 seasons here and winning five championships. He was one of the few players to bridge the Russell-Jones Boys era with the Cowens-White-Havlicek era, retiring after the 1976 championship season. Of course, his most famous play was in Game 7 of the 1969 NBA Finals when his jumper with 1:33 left clanged high off the back of the rim and tricked into the basket for a 105-102 lead. The Celtics would eventually win, 108-106, in one of the most impactful games in NBA history. It would be the final NBA games for Bill Russell and Sam Jones … One interesting restricted free agent who remains unsigned is Peyton Watson, who reportedly seeks a contract north of what the Nuggets paid teammate Christian Braun, who signed a five-year, $125 million extension last October. Watson is brimming with potential and excelled last season when superstar Nikola Jokic was out with a knee injury. But Watson was limited to 54 games because of injury, and Denver is in the second salary cap apron after signing Spencer Jones. There are interested suitors in Watson, who averaged 14.6 points in 2025-26 and has increased his scoring in each of his first four seasons. The Clippers and Cavaliers are trying to rearrange their books and create cap space for a legitimate offer.
Gary Washburn is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at gary.washburn@globe.com. Follow him @GwashburnGlobe.