Before the Miami Heat defeated the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference FinalsMiami head coach Erik Spoelstra has spoken about the recent round of coaching firings in the NBA.
Since the start of the NBA Playoffsfour big-name head coaches have been fired, and three of them have an NBA championship to their name.
Then-Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers reacts against the Boston Celtics in game three of the Eastern Conference second round playoffs at the Wells Fargo Center on May 5, 2023 in Philadelphia. (Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
The last victim was doc riverswho was fired by the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday after three seasons.
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«It’s disturbing,» Spoelstra said Tuesday. «I mean, Doc is a Hall of Famer. It’s what [Heat GM] Andy [Elisburg] he always says, if you get past the first round, there will be some really good teams. Great players, great organizations, great coaching staff that are going to lose.
«It’s part of the nature of this beast. There are so many teams that can move on. It’s a really hard thing to do. It’s been a tough couple of weeks, hearing the news of some really amazing layoffs.»
Rivers was fired after leading the Sixers to three straight conference semifinals and after 54 regular-season wins, the most for the franchise since the 2000-2001 season.
The round of layoffs began on April 21 when toronto raptors fired Nick Nurse after five seasons.
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Then-Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse reacts during the first quarter of the game between the Toronto Raptors and the Boston Celtics at TD Garden on April 7, 2023 in Boston. (Omar Rawlings/Getty Images)
Nurse led the Raptors to the NBA championship in 2019.
head coach of the milwaukee bucks mike budenholzer he was next, fired after five seasons and winning the championship in 2021.
The single-seeded Bucks lost to the Heat in five games in the first round.
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Then it was the turn of Monty Williams, fired by the phoenix suns after four seasons and after winning NBA Coach of the Year in 2022.
Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra speaks to the media during Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals 2023 NBA Playoffs on May 17, 2023 at TD Garden in Boston. (Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images)
On Monday, Spoelstra said Miami has been able to maintain its streak of success by maintaining the same culture.
«It takes a lot of time and energy to restart something,» Spoelstra said. «And I think that’s part of the reason we’ve been able to reboot so many times, over and over and over again. We’re not reinventing a new culture and then trying to teach everyone and then suddenly two years later, someone else will do the exact same thing.»