Along with the Bucks’ Mike Budenholzer and Nuggets’ Michael Malone, LA Clippers head coach Doc Rivers has been named a Coach of the Year finalist.
On Friday night, the NBA announced that LA Clippers head coach Doc Rivers had been named a finalist for the Coach of the Year Award, along with the Milwaukee Bucks’ Mike Budenholzer and Denver Nuggets’ Michael Malone.
Rivers has long been a great coach in the NBA. During the 1999-2000 season, he won the Coach of the Year Award in his first season as a head coach, when he led the Orlando Magic to a 41-41 record. Then, in 2008, he led the Boston Celtics to their first championship victory since 1986. However, this year’s performance is arguably his greatest to date.
Coming into the season, the LA Clippers were expected to win roughly 30-35 games — a mark that his team surpassed before the All-Star break.
At the helm of a team that was mostly pieced together over the summer and was led all season long by a rookie point guard, Rivers led the Clippers to a 48-34 record and secured a spot in the Western Conference Playoffs. That playoff berth came after the Clippers traded away Tobias Harris, a fringe All-Star candidate and arguably the team’s best player, too.
And while the award is only supposed to be determined by an individual’s regular season performance, it’s hard to ignore what Rivers guided the Clippers to once they reached the playoffs.
Up against the Golden State Warriors, one of the greatest teams in NBA history, Rivers led the Clippers to two wins — both of which came on the road at Oracle Arena. That feat has only been achieved once before, by the 2016 champion Cleveland Cavaliers. The Clippers didn’t have an All-Star player — past or present — in the fight, either.
While Rivers does have a strong argument to win the award, it’s hard to ignore what the other finalists were able to achieve this season.
Budenholzer led the Milwaukee Bucks to the NBA’s best record this season at 60-22, and has the likely MVP in Giannis Antetokounmpo on his roster. As it stands, his Bucks have a series lead in the Eastern Conference Finals over the Toronto Raptors and could very well end up contending for the title.
Malone, on the other hand, won eight more games with the Denver Nuggets than he did during the 2017-2018 season and positioned his team behind only the Warriors in the Western Conference standings. His Nuggets had one of the best defenses in the NBA as well. Denver lost in seven games to the Portland Trail Blazers in the Western Conference Semifinals.
Whether Rivers will win the award or not is up for discussion, but it’s clear to the rest of the league that he’s done enough to at least be considered among the top three.
The winner of the award will be announced on June 24 during the annual NBA Awards show.