Doc Rivers would easily be considered the best coach in the history of the Los Angeles Clippers. Increased winnings, playoff appearances and winning percentage. And now he’s out.
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Rivers announced in a statement posted on Twitter on Monday that he will not return to the team. The decision comes about two weeks after the Clippers wasted a 3-1 lead in their series with the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference semi-finals.” Doc has been a tremendous coach for the Clippers, an incredible ambassador and a pillar of strength during turbulent times,” team president Steve Ballmer said in a statement. “He won a lot of games and laid the groundwork for this franchise.”
The Clippers indicated that Rivers and Ballmer made the decision together. Rivers spent seven seasons with the Clippers, advancing to the playoffs in six of them—a huge achievement for a once languid franchise. This season’s team, with the addition of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George in mid-2019, was expected to compete for a championship. But wasting three times to secure a ticket to the conference final against the Nuggets cost the Clippers a chance to measure up with the Los Angeles Lakers and probably played a role in Rivers’ departure.” When I accepted this job my goals were to make this a successful basketball program, a destination for free agents and give this organization a championship,” Rivers wrote in the statement. “While I was able to meet most of the goals, I won’t be able to see them all surpassed.” Rivers recorded a 356-208 mark over seven seasons with the Clippers, guiding them to the second round of the Western playoffs three times. But the franchise has never reached the conference final, and the 0-3 record for opportunities to reach such instances this year turned out to be a devastating blow. Expectations were high, and on the night his season ended, Rivers took responsibility.” We didn’t keep them. That’s the balance sheet,” Rivers said on September 15 after the seventh-game loss. “I’m a coach and I’ll take the blame for it. But we didn’t meet our expectations, obviously.” This is the third time Rivers has led a team that has wasted a 3-1 lead in a series. It also happened with Orlando, seeded eighth, against detroit seed in 2003, and with the Clippers against Houston in 2015.The Clippers finished the regular season with a 49-23 record, the fourth best in franchise history. Rivers has been the coach in five of the Clippers’ top six campaigns.
