MIAMI — The Philadelphia 76ers take on the Miami Heat on Monday in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, and there are numerous links between the teams.
The obvious one is Jimmy Butler, who played for the Sixers in the 2018-19 season before leaving for the Heat in free agency. But Doc Rivers has considerable history with the Heat during his coaching career. He faced Miami in the 2010, 2011 and 2012 playoffs. He also played for Heat president Pat Riley during his playing career with the New York Knicks.
Rivers, named a top 15 coach of all time earlier this season, actually credits the legendary Riley for influencing him to get into coaching.
“I’ve been a lucky coach,” said Rivers at shootaround on Monday morning in Miami. “I guess I would say I’m a lucky player because I played for Mike Fratello, who’s a defensive genius, and I followed that up with Larry Brown. I followed that up with Pat Riley, and then I go to San Antonio. Pop (Gregg Popovich) is in the front office and that’s where our relationship started, so I’ve been around some pretty good guys, but Riley clearly had the biggest impact. It’s not even close.”
After his playing career, Rivers was a broadcaster, and Riley pestered him every day to get into coaching.
“I had no thoughts of coaching until I played for Pat Riley and the way he did it,” Rivers added. “I thought ‘Wow, that’s pretty cool.’ He was the one who when I did TV for three years, every day he would call me or challenge me. When are you gonna get in the fray? He would belittle me! Literally, because I did the Miami-New York series, and every day, he got me. I thought he was wrong, he ended up being right.”
Rivers has done an excellent job leading the team in the 2021-22 season amid the Ben Simmons saga and keeping the team focused and competitive. His time with Riley helped him to get everything going as a leader of this team.
“He inspired me, man,” he finished. “Just his speeches, his…
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