Doc Rivers talks about the “mistake” when leaving Boston

Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers met with his former team on Monday when the Bucks played the Boston Celtics. The Bucks lost 119-108 to the Celtics, who had just won their first NBA Finals since Rivers’ departure last season. Returning to Boston brought back old memories of his time coaching the Celtics and questions about whether he made the right decision to leave the team.

In nine seasons with the Bucks, Rivers compiled a 416–305 record for a .577 winning percentage. Rivers coached the Celtics from 2004-13 and led the Celtics to the 2008 NBA Championship.

After the 2012-13 season, the Celtics traded Rivers to the Los Angeles Clippers for a first-round pick at Rivers’ request. The Celtics were in the middle of a rebuild, and while several members of the Celtics organization wanted to let him go, Rivers didn’t want to stay for the rebuild.

Rivers’ first season with the Clippers was marred when former Clippers owner Donald Sterling was caught making racially insensitive comments. Sterling was suspended from the NBA after the season.

“I was thinking about it that first year with the Clippers, like, ‘Hey, maybe I made a mistake,'” Rivers said, via Steve Balpett of Heavy.com. “But after that I didn’t think about it at all. … The one thing I never did was I never looked back. I just don’t. I’ve never done that.”

“So I always look back on it and say, ‘Ah, maybe I overdid it.’ But it is what it is. You can’t get it back.”

Rivers has no regrets about dropping a decision and has won every stop during his career.

“Everywhere I went, I won,” Rivers said. “I got fired in Philly and we were .653 the three years I was there, you know what I mean? So I’m okay with my heritage. I’m eighth in (career) wins, fourth in playoff wins, so I have a great legacy. But I want more. That’s why I’m still doing it.”

Although Rivers is 8th on the all-time wins list for a head coach, he has yet to lead a team to a championship since leaving Boston. He consistently led his teams to the postseason, but failed to even reach another NBA Finals despite fielding talented teams.

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