Milwaukee Bucks players have been criticized for excitedly dancing around the court just a day after coach Adrian Griffin was fired.
Reports on Wednesday claimed Doc Rivers has agreed to take over in Milwaukee but the players he’s inheriting looked delighted to have seen the back of their former coach.
Bucks players have been criticized for dancing around the court after Adrian Griffin was fired
Griffin lost his job despite the Bucks holding a 30-13 record, trailing only first-seeded Celtics
Led by a smiling Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Bucks players joyfully danced around in a circle with each other before their 126-116 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
It was certainly not the atmosphere you would expect to see from a team who saw their coach get fired just 24 hours earlier.
Fans took notice and criticized them for looking so happy. One wrote on X: ‘Being happy that y’all got a coach fired is krazy’.
Another posted: ‘Damn, did they throw a party after Griffin got fired?’
‘Wow they really hated that dude huh?’, said another.
A report on Tuesday claimed the players had ‘lost faith’ in Griffin, ultimately leading to his unbelievable firing.
Griffin lost his job despite the Bucks holding a 30-13 record, trailing only the first-seeded Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference. His 43-game stint is the third shortest tenure for a head coach in NBA history.
It’s claimed several veterans, including Antetokounmpo, were no longer on board with his methods after one half of the NBA season.
The unrest at the helm, per Sports Illustrated, had been making the rounds through NBA circles ‘for weeks.’
Griffin was in his first season as Milwaukee’s head coach, being hired in June after five seasons as an assistant coach for the Toronto Raptors.
Milwaukee won the NBA championship in 2021 and appears in contention to do so again.
It was also claimed Damian Lillard, recruited from the Portland Trail Blazers this offseason, was struggling to adapt to Griffin’s scheme.
‘I appreciate the opportunity the Bucks gave me,’ Griffin told Bleacher Report. ‘You can’t control everything. I feel good about the job we did. I appreciate my coaching staff for all their hard work.’
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the team, who is presently second in the Eastern Conference, has been pursuing Rivers for the past 24 hours and appears to be close to acquiring their man.
According to reports, the Bucks requested assistance from Rivers as early as December, with the former coach now serving as an informal consultant to Griffin.
In July of last year, Rivers signed on as a lead analyst with Mike Breen and Doris Burke at ESPN.
He had been the head coach of the Orlando Magic, Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Clippers, and Philadelphia 76ers for 24 seasons before that.
With a 1,097-763 record, Rivers has only missed five postseason appearances and has not had a losing season since 2007—the fourth-longest winning streak in NBA history, only surpassed by Hall of Famers Gregg Popovich, Phil Jackson, and Pat Riley.
After winning an NBA championship with the Boston Celtics in 2007–08, Rivers—who was a longtime point guard for the Atlanta Hawks, Los Angeles Clippers, New York Knicks, and San Antonio Spurs—is now most known for his work as a coach.