During the first round of the 2022 NBA Playoffs, 76ers’ head coach Doc Rivers obtained his 100th playoff victory. He earned it last night in his team’s 112-97 home win over the Raptors. Rivers is now tied for fifth place for the most playoff wins for a head coach in NBA history. The coach’s NBA career playoff record is 100-94 (.515). His overall record is 1,043-735 (.587).
On Monday, the coach past Celtics’ legend Red Auerbach (99) on the NBA coaches’ playoffs all-time wins list. Auerbach won a total of nine championships with Boston (1957, 1959–1966). He called it quits with a playoff record of 99-69 (.589).
Doc Rivers gets playoff win No. 1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ as the Sixers win Game 2 against the Raptors 112-97.
He moves to fifth all-time in playoff wins as an NBA head coach – passing Red Auerbach (99).https://t.co/OJAWw1B0QF pic.twitter.com/VXAkTT871D
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) April 19, 2022
Keep in mind, as the No. 1 seed, a team only needed to win eight postseason games to win the NBA title throughout the 1950’s and 60’s. This notable fact was worth mentioning. Auerbach’s overall record was 938-479 (.662).
Furthermore, Doc Rivers is now tied for fifth with former 76ers’ head coach Larry Brown. The 2001 NBA Coach of the Year helped the Detroit Pistons win a championship in the 2004-05 season.
Brown finished with a 100-93 (.518) playoff record. His overall NBA head coaching record was 1,098-904 (.548). Today, Brown is an assistant coach for the Memphis Tigers in the NCAA.
Where will Doc Rivers finish on the all-time list?
Additionally, Rivers can pass Brown tomorrow, when the Sixers play the Raptors in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series. On Wednesday, Philadelphia will take on Toronto inside Scotiabank Arena at 8 p.m. ET.
As for the rest of the all-time list, Doc Rivers has little to no chance of even catching third-ranked Gregg Popovich. He needs 70 more playoff wins. After viewing the full list, Gregg Popovich has 170 wins, Pat Riley finished with 171 wins and Phil Jackson retired with 229 victories.
Similar to the other coaches listed above, Rivers won at least one championship. With Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo and Paul Piece, he coached the Celtics to their first championship win of the 21st century in the 2008 NBA Finals.
Now, Rivers certainly lags behind Popovich, Riley and Jackson for the most-titles metric, but the guy can still coach at a high level. After 13 seasons of coming up short in the playoffs, Doc Rivers is due to win another NBA title. It is likely that he’ll close out his coaching career ranking fourth all-time on the playoff wins list.
