As a head coach, Doc Riers has become a polarizing figure in the NBA community. Notably, he led the famous 2008 Boston Celtics to an NBA title. However, since then while his teams have found success, Rivers hasn’t reached the promised land since 2010. As a coach for the Clippers, the now Bucks HC didn’t get close. But in seven years, didn’t sniff an NBA Finals. And a former player of his believes it’s because the seasoned coach changed since his stint with the Celtics.
Glen Davis, famous for his time on the Celtics witnessed Rivers’ coaching on a championship-caliber team. However, they never saw eye-to-eye. Davis was among his first signings with the Clippers. The 63-year-old even felt the former Celtics big had “very high basketball IQ”. But tempers flared due to his limited playing time. And recently, the forward recalled the moment Rivers did the unthinkable.
“I’m not perfect but Doc knows me. He knows my heart, he’s seen me play trillions of times and knows that I’ll give anything to be able to play for my teammates and to be on the floor. But that year in Houston, he takes me out the game and you know it’s heated. I say Doc what you brought me here man, I’m trying to ball. Like I’m trying to play. He looks at me and says go to the back,” Davis detailed on Talk with Flee.
Glen Davis remembers standing his ground. However, the forward who was recently for health care fraud was left stunned when Doc Rivers asked for security to escort him out in the middle of the game. “So I know it wasn’t the same Doc. I knew I I have come to a situation where Doc has a different role and has more pressure on him and now he is trying to save his own a**,” he says about the Bucks coach.
Glen Davis felt his decisions with the Clippers were different due to his role with the franchise. In addition, the former Celtics star also sees having his son Austin Rivers on the team as a possible deterrent. And this wasn’t the first time he had spoken about Rivers.
Doc Rivers and Glen Davis have gone back and forth before
When Davis was on the Boston Celtics, many were impressed by his skill. And like Kevin Garnett, Doc Rivers also saw great signs from the now 39-year-old. “I thought Glen Davis had an unbelievable feel. He was skilled” the coach said about him. However, there was just one problem.
“It was just he ate a lot of food. He ate the team meals, and then he would go off and eat more meals. But there were times where he would do it right and go in stretches,” Doc Rivers detailed in an interview with Bill Simmons. The fluctuations caused immense trouble for the front office. At one point they even told the former Celtics coach “This is impossible” about controlling the forward’s weight.
Those could have been some of the reasons the Shamrocks traded him in 2011. Still, Davis didn’t mind that. But his time on the Clippers fueled him with great rage. And he lashed out against Rivers.
“What Doc had in ’08 was special and he was lucky as hell. Lucky as hell. The year before that they was wearing trash bags, but then the next year they win it, now he is one of the best coaches ever? I’m just not feeling that. You know what I mean?” he told Chris Broussard about the title-winning Celtics team.
Instead of crediting Doc Rivers for aligning all the stars together, Davis felt the efforts of the likes of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen were the major reason the Celtics attained glory. And it seems since his tumultuous stint with the Clippers, Davis remains at odds with his former coach.
And it doesn’t seem as if they will ever attain peace.
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