{"id":704086,"date":"2026-04-07T21:56:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T21:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/704086\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T21:56:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T21:56:15","slug":"doc-rivers-told-bucks-players-to-google-me-in-a-meeting-it-did-not-go-well","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/704086\/","title":{"rendered":"Doc Rivers Told Bucks Players to \u2018Google Me\u2019 in a Meeting\u2014It Did Not Go Well"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7b\">Doc Rivers is likely on his way out in Milwaukee after a disastrous season, and somehow, it just got worse. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7e\">On Tuesday, ESPN\u2019s Shams Charania reported that on March 2, the night after a blowout loss to the Bulls, Rivers called a team meeting and proceeded to embarrass himself. Charania claims Rivers, \u201cimplored his team to, \u2018Look at my r\u00e9sum\u00e9,\u2018 and \u2018Google me. I took teams to the playoffs and championship that weren\u2019t supposed to be there. I thought this was one of them.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7h\">Stealing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college\/2023\/12\/23\/indiana-curt-cignetti-flex-winning-record-google-me\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Curt Cignetti\u2019s \u201cGoogle me\u201d<\/a> line was certainly a choice for Rivers. Unfortunately, it didn\u2019t hit they way it did for Indiana\u2019s football coach. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7k\">\u201cThat was not well-received internally,\u201d Charania said. \u201cThat was just another example of the disconnect between player and coach.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7n\">Not shocking. The arrogance is astounding. If you want to know just how flat that line fell, Charania reported no fewer than six players ran to tell him the story.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01knmy6x512v9s6ttqes.jpg\" alt=\"Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers talks with small forward Paul Pierce.\" title=\"Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers talks with small forward Paul Pierce.\" width=\"2712\" height=\"1525\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"7x\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Doc Rivers led Paul Pierce and the Celtics to an NBA title in 2008, but he\u2019s struggled in the postseason in his various stops since. | Winslow Townson-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"81\">This is where I remind you that Rivers has an NBA championship on that r\u00e9sum\u00e9, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nba\/full-naismith-basketball-hall-of-fame-class-2026\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">will add Hall of Fame inductee later this year<\/a>\u2014I didn\u2019t need to Google it. In 2008, the Celtics beat the Lakers in six games to win a title. It\u2019s worth noting that roster was led by All-Stars Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo, while also boasting an excellent bench. Everyone expected that team to compete for and possibly win a title. And it did. That team was also pushed to six games by a Lakers team missing Andrew Bynum and featuring Vladimir Radmanovi\u0107 in the starting lineup. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"84\">Rivers\u2019s teams have only reached the conference finals two other times. The Celtics lost in the 2010 NBA Finals to the Lakers, and in 2012, Boston was bounced by LeBron James and the Heat in seven games. In the 14 seasons he\u2019s coached since that season, his teams haven\u2019t progressed beyond the conference semifinals. The Bucks did win the NBA Cup in 2024, though, so make sure you don\u2019t leave that off the r\u00e9sum\u00e9 he\u2019ll soon be polishing. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"87\">His tenures with the Clippers and 76ers ended in disappointment despite significant hype surrounding them. He had loaded rosters with both franchises and fell flat. In fact, he won only two division titles in those 10 seasons and failed to live up to projections in the playoffs. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8d\">In 27 seasons of coaching, Rivers is 1,193\u2013863 (.580) during the regular season, and 114\u2013112 (.504) in the playoffs. The 64-year-old is in his third season leading the Bucks after taking over in January 2024. He started working as a consultant for the team in December 2023, and when the team fired Adrian Griffin after 43 games, Rivers took over. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8g\">The Bucks went 17\u201319 on his watch in 2024 and lost in the opening round of the playoffs. The team was 48\u201334 last season and, again, was out in the opening round. Milwaukee is currently 31-47 and 10 games out of the final play-in game spot and star Giannis Antetokounmpo<a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nba\/bucks\/giannis-antetokounmpo-milwaukee-signs-point-ugly-end\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> is likely on his way out of town<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8j\">Things have gone sideways since Rivers showed up, and his call to \u201cGoogle me\u201d fell flat for a reason: his players didn\u2019t need to. They\u2019re well aware of who he is and how many times his teams have fallen short. <\/p>\n<p>More NBA From Sports Illustrated<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8r\">Listen to SI\u2019s NBA podcast,\u00a0Open Floor, below or on<a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/open-floor-sis-nba-show\/id1050847009\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a0Apple<\/a>\u00a0and<a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0Bgxp9XcFMTysIDB5mC04P\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a0Spotify<\/a>. Watch the show on<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLRxhb-2QRi1DlpVi8D3zH7WzJgtZXo72g\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a0SI\u2019s YouTube channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Doc Rivers is likely on his way out in Milwaukee after a disastrous season, and somehow, it just&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":704087,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3775],"tags":[7,103,102,121,3871,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-704086","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-milwaukee-bucks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bucks","10":"tag-milwaukee","11":"tag-milwaukee-bucks","12":"tag-milwaukeebucks","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=704086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=704086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=704086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=704086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}