The NBA has done a spectacular job with Rivalry Week. Sam Presti vs. his mentors in Oklahoma City took a backseat to Chet Holmgren vs. Victor Wembanyama. That clash felt like a future NBA Finals showdown. Devin Booker and Luka Doncic exchanged their usual vitriol and potshots at one another. However, the nourishment of an already budding rivalry was the most relevant takeaway from this week in NBA action. The Milwaukee Bucks used rivalry week as an opportunity to dial up the intensity of their attempt to catch the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference.
It wouldn’t have been complete without the Bucks ejecting Adrian Griffin to make room for the coaching narcotic that is Glenn “Doc” Rivers. In a few weeks, it will be as if Griffin never existed on the Bucks sideline. The Bucks certainly didn’t seem too bummed in their first game since Griffin was fired.
Rivers is revered in Boston. Maybe not as much as Bill Belichick, but on par with Terry Francona. He’s responsible for the Boston Celtics franchise’s most recent championship, and in December, called his stint in Boston the best period of his life in sports, before he was honored at TD Garden. For the second time though, Rivers will be thrust into a duty that puts him in conflict with the Celtics. Boston’s stranglehold over the division was amplified by the acquisition of former Buck Jrue Holiday via a third party.
If Holiday winding up in Boston’s backcourt was the opening salvo in the Boston-Milwaukee wars, then Rivers is the escalation. The last time Boston and Milwaukee faced off in a seven-game series, Boston clobbered Milwaukee in a seventh game. This time, it’s personal. The Lillard-Holiday matchup is going to be a storyline that defines any potential series, but Rivers and Holiday make this more complicated than in years past.
At the time Lillard was acquired, Holiday was framed as the Demar DeRozan substitute in a trade that was analogous to the Raptors 2019 acquisition of Kawhi Leonard. It was a risk to their chemistry, but the hope was that a shakeup of the roster would inspire Giannis Antetokounmpo to re-up for an extension and propel a contender that had regressed back to an NBA Finals. Lillard’s acquisition provided offensive firepower and a secondary scorer who could ease Antetokounmpo’s load, but the Lillard-Holiday also depressed a defense that typically ranked among the league’s best during Mike Budenholzer’s tenure.
Ultimately, their bottom-third defense played a key role in Griffin’s firing. It may not have been the only reason, but it was a significant catalyst. If Rivers had been unemployed a year earlier, I wouldn’t have put it past the Celtics to appoint him as Ime Udoka’s replacement once he was suspended and ultimately dismissed before the 2022-23 season for having an inappropriate relationship with an employee.
There’s only one thing that can fix both teams. A hypothetical Doc Rivers and Damian Lillard for Joe Mazzulla and Brad Stevens swap makes both franchises whole. Who says no? Holiday is probably more beloved in Milwaukee than in Boston thus far. Right now, how’s fourth fiddle to Derrick White? If you asked Bucks fans today if they’d make the Lillard trade again knowing what they know now, half would say yes. As for Lillard, he’d get to pair with a backcourt partner who can hide his defensive, um, inadequacies. Rivers and the Celtics just belong together like Bill Russell and Beantown. Boston’s President of Basketball Operations would descend back to the sidelines to satisfy that coaching itch for a contender.
Maybe this is something to revisit in the offseason if the Philadelphia 76ers finally reach their apex and win the East. Celtics ownership wouldn’t hesitate if they can’t get over the championship hump again. The Greeks had a word for forces uniting against a third party: Sunkretizein. No one except Jayson Tatum is safe on Boston’s transient roster.
Coincidentally, one of the last instances of a coach being traded was the Celtics sending Rivers to the Clippers in exchange for a 2015 first-round pick, which Boston used on a guard out of Georgia State who never factored into their rotation.
Ultimately, this is far too complicated to make happen, but think about the upsides for both teams. Rivers and Holiday collapsing the arc of each other’s careers into a perfect time loop is an idea so crazy, that it just might work. The NBA can get weird, so never say never. In the meantime, we can settle for the complicated emotions that will stem from a Celtics and Bucks playoff series.
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