Why Milwaukee Bucks fans are overreacting to Doc Rivers' playoff history
Bucks fans are overreacting to Doc Rivers' playoff record: 2010
Just another absolutely ridiculous series to be listed as a blown playoff series by Doc Rivers. At the conclusion of the 2009-2010 season, there were two teams left standing, the Boston Celtics and the defending Champion Los Angeles Lakers.
Now, Doc Rivers' Celtics did lead this series 3-2, but calling Doc Rivers a playoff choker because he lost two games in a row to the defending champs led by Kobe Bryant is just plain stupid.
The Celtics still had their Big 3 and were even something of a Big 4 when factoring in the career progression of Rajon Rondo, however, the Boston Celtics GM also succeeded in making the Celtics even older than they already were by adding a pair of 14 year veterans in Rasheed Wallace and Michael Finley. The Celtics also had some tough shooting go their way in the Finals, Ray Allen finished the series just 29.3 percent on 3-pointers.
That season the Celtics were 15th in offensive rating and still managed to get to the NBA Finals as the four seed, again beating the top seed Cavaliers, with LeBron James, on their way to the NBA Finals. Those two facts alone are reason enough to believe that this Celtics team actually overachieved which credit should go to Doc Rivers for.
That said, let's look at the 2009-2010 Lakers team. Led by none other than the defending Finals MVP Kobe Bryant, the Lakers were top heavy with Kobe and prime Pau Gasol. That said, 2009 and 2010 Kobe Bryant might have been the best years of his career. Kobe was locked in at both ends of the court, it would shock nobody that he averaged 28.6 points per game in the Finals and was the leading scorer in six of the seven game series. However, Kobe also averaged eight rebounds and 2.1 steals per game. Kobe's defensive rating for the series was 99!
Add in Pau Gasol, who averaged 18.6 points and 11.6 rebounds, and Metta World Peace (Ron Artest) and the Lakers top three scorers of the series also all had defensive ratings 104 or lower. The 2009-10 Lakers were a damn good team and losing twice in a row to a team that good is hardly a blown lead or a choke.