Once trusted to guide the Los Angeles Clippers into the future, Doc Rivers returns to Southern California on Saturday with a chance to match wits against his former team.
Rivers has his current team, the Milwaukee Bucks, on a five game-winning streak in advance of a matchup against the Clippers at Inglewood, Calif. Going back to Jan. 6, Milwaukee has won eight of its past nine games.
After a road game against the New Orleans Pelicans was postponed Wednesday because of weather conditions, Milwaukee returned home to earn a 125-96 victory over the Miami Heat on Thursday.
Damian Lillard scored 29 points and handed out 11 assists. He appeared to pick up his 10th rebound late in the game for his fourth career triple-double before it was nixed on a late scoring change that credited Brook Lopez with the rebound instead.
Because of travel issues getting out of New Orleans, the Bucks only arrived in Milwaukee three hours before tipoff against the Heat.
“It’s a professional win,” Rivers said. “Before the game, I got to say, Giannis (Antetokounmpo) and Dame really talked it up. Like, ‘Guys, no excuses. We’re at home. We’re here to win the game. The game’s being played.’”
Antetokounmpo scored 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for his 12th consecutive double-double since returning from a four-game absence caused by back spasms and an illness.
Rivers was the Clippers’ head coach from 2013-20, and while the team made the playoffs six times, he was fired after a flameout in the 2020 Western Conference semifinals within the playoff bubble in Florida.
Rivers’ replacement, Tyronn Lue, got the team into the Western Conference finals in 2021, but recent seasons have been derailed by Kawhi Leonard’s injury issues.
A major change that Rivers will see is the Clippers’ new $2 billion arena that opened this season.
Without Leonard to start the season, the Clippers lost their first four games in their new home but are 16-4 in Inglewood since. The latest home victory came in a 110-93 decision against the Washington Wizards on Thursday.
In his sixth game of the season, Leonard amassed 15 points and seven rebounds in 24 minutes as the team continues to take its time increasing the star’s court time.
James Harden put up 17 points, 12 rebounds and 13 assists for Los Angeles. His 79th career triple-double moved him past Wilt Chamberlain and into eighth place on the NBA’s all-time list.
Norman Powell added 22 points while Ivica Zubac had 11 points and nine rebounds on Thursday. A day earlier, when the Clippers took the visiting Boston Celtics to overtime before losing, Leonard (rest), Harden (groin), Powell (back) and Zubac (eye) all were out.
When comparing the back-to-back games, Lue found more to like in the loss.
“Not a good game for us (against the Wizards), just a win,” Lue said. “We didn’t play particularly well. We didn’t execute with the basketball. We did some good things as well, but it wasn’t one of our best games. (Wednesday), I thought we played better.
“We’ll take it, but we got to start stacking wins. We got to start executing the right way and I don’t think we did a good job of that (Thursday).”