3 Bucks on Thin Ice Heading Into the Playoffs

The Milwaukee Bucks are entering a pivotal postseason. Despite having one of the most disappointing regular seasons in recent memory, they managed to secure home-court advantage and a decent matchup against the Indiana Pacers in the first round.

They may have lucked out with how weak the Eastern Conference has been all season but they are going to need more than good fortunes to make some noise in the playoffs. If they don't, it might signal the end for a few key figures in the Bucks organization. Let's take a look.

1. Doc Rivers

When the Milwaukee Bucks fired their head coach Adrian Griffin mid-season, they had a 30-13 record. They made the surprising decision to hire Doc Rivers, who spent the last decade flaming out early in the playoffs. Whatever it was that the Bucks were hoping for didn't come to fruition.

The Bucks finished the season with a 19-20 record under Rivers, finishing with the third seed in the Eastern Conference. Considering the sheer number of tanking teams towards the end of the season, contending teams usually rack up easier wins in the last third of the season. This didn't happen with Milwaukee, who dropped three straight seemingly unloseable games to the Wizards, Grizzlies, and the Raptors.

Fortunately for Rivers, things broke right for them in the playoffs. While Giannis Antetokounmpo will be recovering from his injury, the Bucks will be facing the Indiana Pacers in the first round and avoid the Boston Celtics until the Conference Finals.

The minimum threshold for Rivers to keep his job after this season should be the conference finals and at least a competitive showing there. Anything less and it may be time to move on since it has been one of the most underwhelming coaching performances in Milwaukee in a long time.