Sports

Doc Rivers Lured Back To Coaching By Chance To Compete For NBA Title With Milwaukee Bucks

Published

4 months ago

2024-01-27

MILWAUKEE – Doc Rivers and the Milwaukee Bucks have experienced significant postseason disappointment in recent years.

They’re teaming up as the Bucks try to achieve lofty expectations by winning their second championship in four years. Rivers will debut on Monday when Milwaukee starts a five-game road trip against the reigning champion Denver Nuggets.

Rivers gave his first news conference as Milwaukee’s coach on Saturday, four days after Adrian Gryphon was dismissed just 43 games into his job. The Bucks were 30-13 at the time of Griffin’s firing, demonstrating the franchise’s desire to win big while featuring two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and seven-time all-NBA guard Damian Lillard.

Doc Rivers Lured Back To Coaching By Chance To Compete For NBA Title With Milwaukee Bucks

Following his third consecutive second-round playoff defeat last year, the Philadelphia 76ers fired Rivers, and he started this season as an ESPN analyst. The opportunity to lead the Bucks drew him back into coaching.

“I wasn’t just going to take a job,” Rivers explained. “I’ve been contacted multiple times this season and wouldn’t even answer the phone. I was completely serious. If the appropriate occasion arose, I would listen. “If not, I was fine.”

Joe Prunty will work his third and final game as interim head coach on Saturday night against the New Orleans Pelicans.

Rivers’ immediate objective is to assist the Bucks in improving their consistency and upgrade a defence that has taken a significant step backwards since losing Jrue Holiday in the offseason trade that brought them Lillard.

Rivers will coach at an arena where his Marquette jersey, No. 31, hangs from the rafters. He flourished at Marquette from 1980 to 1983 and played 13 seasons in the NBA before embarking on a nearly 25-year career as a head coach.

Doc Rivers Lured Back To Coaching By Chance To Compete For NBA Title With Milwaukee Bucks

“Being back here is a dream,” Rivers explained.

His head coaching experience contrasts sharply with that of his predecessor. Gryphon had been an NBA assistant for 16 years but had never served as a head coach when the Bucks hired him last summer.

Rivers has a 1,097-763 regular-season record and a 111-104 playoff record over 24 seasons with the Orlando Magic (1999-2004), Boston Celtics (2004-13), Los Angeles Clippers (2013-20), and 76ers (2020-23).

His first win with the Bucks will equal Larry Brown for the ninth most career coaching victories in NBA history. 43 current and former NBA coaches working with the National Basketball Coaches Association selected him as one of the top 15 coaches in league history in 2022.

This is the first time he has taken over a squad in the middle of the season.

“It will be a challenge,” Rivers added. “I am running towards a challenge. We need to get organised quickly. We can only try to do a little slowly. We’re in the middle of a season, so we must strive to maintain our rhythm. There is no doubt that we need to make adjustments.

Rivers won a championship with the Celtics in 2008 before losing Game 7 of the NBA Finals to the Los Angeles Lakers two years later. He led the Celtics to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals in 2012.

But he never advanced beyond the second round of the playoffs with the Clippers or 76ers. Throughout his career, he has received a lot of criticism for blowing series leads.

The Bucks still feel he can lead them to another championship.

“The interesting thing to me is I know a bunch of talking heads will talk about some of the negative things because that’s what social media is, but you talk about the success that he’s had and the ability he’s had to get teams into positions to win, whether they’ve closed or not,” Bucks guard Pat Connaughton said Friday night after the hire was announced. “I look at our team, and I look at the situation he’s coming into; we get to those situations, I think we’ve got a good chance to close.”

Doc Rivers Lured Back To Coaching By Chance To Compete For NBA Title With Milwaukee Bucks

Milwaukee faced its postseason challenges.

The Bucks won their first championship in half a century in 2021, but they have yet to move past the second round since. They had the best regular-season record in the NBA in 2019, 2020, and 2023, but they failed to surpass the conference finals in any of those years.

Mike Budenholzer, who led the Bucks to the 2021 championship, was fired last year after the top-seeded Bucks suffered a devastating 4-1 first-round loss to the Miami Heat.

Bobby Portis, a forward for the Bucks, said on Friday that it would be enjoyable to receive coaching from someone who also has something to prove. “Being on a team with other guys means that we all have something to prove. I’m not saying we failed during the last few years, but we didn’t achieve the target that was set.”

SOURCE – (AP)

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Kiara Grace

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Max Verstappen Holds Off Lando Norris To Win Emilia Romagna Grand Prix And Extend F1 Lead

Published

6 hours ago

2024-05-19

Kiara Grace

AP News - VOR News Image

IMOLA, ITALY Max – Verstappen defeated McLaren’s Lando Norris to win the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday, extending his Formula One championship lead.

Verstappen began on pole and led Norris from the start but was pushed by the McLaren driver near the end, winning by less than a second.

“I lost grip, especially in the closing 10 to 15 laps. I slid a lot. “I saw Lando closing in,” Verstappen explained. “It’s quite difficult when the tires are no longer working, and you have to run flat out, so I couldn’t afford to make too many mistakes. Thankfully, we didn’t, and we’re overjoyed to have won here today.”

AP – VOR News Image

Max Verstappen Holds Off Lando Norris To Win Emilia Romagna Grand Prix And Extend F1 Lead

It was the defending champion’s fifth victory in seven Grand Prix races this year, following Verstappen’s defeat by Norris in Miami two weeks ago.

Norris’ Second Place Sunday demonstrated the McLaren team’s credentials as the closest contender to Verstappen and Red Bull this season. “It hurts me to say it, but one or two more laps, I think I would have had him,” stated Norris. “It would have been beautiful, but just not today.”

Charles Leclerc finished third for Ferrari, the Italian team’s first podium finish in Imola since 2006.

Overtaking is always challenging on the narrow Imola track, and this year, asphalt run-off zones on key corners were replaced with gravel traps, discouraging risk-taking even more.

AP – VOR News Image

Max Verstappen Holds Off Lando Norris To Win Emilia Romagna Grand Prix And Extend F1 Lead

Leclerc got in on Norris midway through the race but made a mistake and ran across the grass, costing him time.

Oscar Piastri qualified second for McLaren but was relegated to fifth after a penalty for impeding Kevin Magnussen in a Haas. He got ahead of Sainz during the pit stops and finished fourth, ahead of the Spanish driver.

Lewis Hamilton, a seven-time champion, and his teammate George Russell finished sixth and seventh following a challenging weekend for Mercedes.

Sergio Perez, Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate, began 11th following a mistake in qualifying and finished ninth. His major impact on the race came when he briefly held up Norris and Leclerc following their pit stops, thereby assisting Verstappen.

AP – VOR News Image

Max Verstappen Holds Off Lando Norris To Win Emilia Romagna Grand Prix And Extend F1 Lead

Yuki Tsunoda took ninth place for RB, while Lance Stroll finished tenth for Aston Martin.

Verstappen has a 48-point advantage over Leclerc, who has surged ahead of Perez to second place.

SOURCE – (AP)

Sports

Seize The Gray Win the Preakness 2024, Mystik Dan Finished Second

Published

23 hours ago

2024-05-18

Geoff Thomas

Seize The Gray has won the Preakness 2024. Favorite and Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan finished second, halting his pursuit for the first Triple Crown since Justify in 2018, NBC Sports Reports.

Seize the Grey won the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland, on Saturday, defeating Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan and six other horses. Seize the Grey led from start to finish, with Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan in second place. Catching Freedom placed third.

D. Wayne Lukas, 88, becomes the oldest trainer in history to win a Triple Crown event. It marks his eighth Preakness victory in his career, tying Bob Baffert for second all-time. Lukas has won 15 Triple Crown races in his career.

Jaime Torres made a memorable Triple Crown debut with his triumph in Seize the Grey.

MyRacehorse owns Seize the Grey, and it sells thoroughbred “micro-shares” to the general public. There are 2,570 shareholders in Seize the Grey, representing 42 of the 50 states.

Seize the Grey is the Preakness’ 18th victory from the seventh post since 1909. No other post has resulted in more than 14 winners.

If Seize the Grey competes, his next race will be the 156th Belmont Stakes on June 8 at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Preakness 2024 Full Race

Sports

Dallas Stars Eliminate Avalanche 2-1 With Double Overtime Win

Published

23 hours ago

2024-05-18

Geoff Thomas

Dallas Stars Eliminate Avalanche 2-1 With OT Win

The Avalanche’s aspirations of returning to the Stanley Cup were dashed late Friday night when they lost 2-1 in double overtime against the Dallas Stars.

Former Avalanche player Matt Duchene scored the game-winning goal, allowing the Dallas Stars to advance to the Western Conference final.

Duchene, who began his professional career in Denver, grabbed a loose puck in front of the net and blasted it over a sprawled-out Alexandar Georgiev. Duchene raced down the ice and sank to his knees in celebration.

Dallas Stars will play either Edmonton Oilers or the Vancouver Cunucks next. The Dallas Stars are making their second straight trip to the conference finals, having fallen to eventual Stanley Cup champion Vegas last season. The Stars won their sole Stanley Cup championship in 1999.

This was a series in which the road team won five of six games, with the Stars winning all three in Denver. The Avalanche were the best home team throughout the regular season, while the Stars had the best away record.

After winning the Stanley Cup two years earlier, the Avalanche finished the season 50-25-7.