Sources — Doc Rivers to make Bucks debut Monday vs. Nuggets

MILWAUKEE — The Bucks officially hired Doc Rivers as head coach Friday night, moments before the end of their 112-100 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Rivers will be introduced at a press conference Saturday morning. The Bucks play Saturday night at home against the New Orleans Pelicans, but sources tell ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski that he won't coach his first game until Monday night on the road against the Denver Nuggets.

The Bucks will be the fifth franchise Rivers, 62, has taken over since starting as head coach in 1999-2000. He met with the team during shootaround Friday morning and delivered a short but powerful message, according to Bucks guard Pat Connaughton.

“He speaks to just that identity that we should have as the Milwaukee Bucks,” Connaughton said after Friday’s game. “You talk about the talent we have in the team, teams should be a little more afraid to play us.

“Right now, with the way our defense has played, the way we've been up and down in games – I know we have a great record – I don't think teams have really been worried about the idea of ​​going in and playing. whether at home or on the road.”

Rivers' arrival caps a whirlwind week for Milwaukee, which fired first-year head coach Adrian Griffin on Tuesday 43 games into the season. Rivers will also bolster the Bucks bench with two veteran assistant coaches, adding Rex Kalamian and Dave Joerger to the bench, sources told Wojnarowski.

Rivers returns to the bench after being fired from his last coaching job with the Philadelphia 76ers. In three seasons, he failed to lead the team out of the Eastern Conference semifinals, including a Game 7 loss to the Boston Celtics last season.

Rivers has a prior connection to the city of Milwaukee. He was an All-American guard for Marquette in the early 1980s.

Rivers has accumulated 1,097 coaching victories during his career, ninth in NBA history and just two shy of passing Larry Brown for sole possession of eighth all-time. His streak of 16 consecutive winning seasons is surpassed only by Gregg Popovich, Phil Jackson and Pat Riley, according to a study by ESPN Stats & Information.

Although Rivers won a championship with the Celtics in 2008 and reached the NBA Finals again in 2010, his playoff record has been tainted in recent years. Rivers has lost nine straight games with a chance to reach the conference finals, and he owns a much lower winning percentage in the playoffs (.516) compared to the regular season (.590).

“I look at our team and I look at the situation they’re in, we’re getting there [playoff] situations, I think we have a very good chance to close,” Connaughton said. “His ability to intervene and command respect immediately; his ability to lead because he has been leading for so long; he led all types of personalities; He's managed all the different types of guys in the NBA through different eras of the NBA. I think this will be something that will be very useful to everyone on the team. »

Bucks forward Bobby Portis agreed with the assessment and said he was excited to have a coach with a chip on his shoulder.

“It’s going to be fun to be coached by someone who also has something to prove,” Portis said. “I'm not saying we've failed in the last two years, but we haven't achieved the goal we were looking for. Having a quiet coach in the same boat as us is a good thing. It's also refreshing to have all the world on his side. same page and having guys who finally have a chip on their shoulder with something to prove.