NBA Rumors: Doc Rivers to Make Bucks Coaching Debut vs. Nikola Jokić, Nuggets

Doc Rivers' first game as head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks will be in a marquee matchup against the reigning NBA champions.

Per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Rivers is expected to make his Bucks debut on Monday against the Denver Nuggets.

Rivers will be the third person to coach a game for the Bucks this season. Adrian Griffin was fired on Tuesday, despite having a 30-13 record in his first season with the club.

Per The Athletic's Shams Charania, Sam Amick and Eric Nehm, the Bucks' decision to fire Griffin was the result of several factors over the course of this season, including their struggles on defense, "flawed use" of Damian Lillard alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo and growing concerns this iteration of the team would fall short of its title aspirations by maintaining the status quo.

Assistant Joe Prunty has served as Milwaukee's interim head coach for the past two games. He will be in the top chair for Saturday's game against the New Orleans Pelicans before Rivers is expected to take over.

The Bucks officially hired Rivers on Friday after making him their primary target following Griffin's dismissal. The 62-year-old had been working as a television analyst since being fired by the Philadelphia 76ers in May.

Rivers has a long track record of success as a head coach. He has a 1,097-763 record 24 seasons with four different teams and led the Boston Celtics to an NBA title in 2007-08.

The biggest criticism of Rivers has been his team's shortcomings in the postseason, outside of that one championship with the Celtics. He's 6-10 all-time in Game 7s, including five straight losses. No other coach in NBA history has more than five Game 7 losses.

A Rivers-coached team hasn't reached the conference finals since the 2011-12 season. The Bucks are set up to end that streak if he can get the defense to play closer to league average and finds a way to maximize the Lillard-Antetokounmpo pairing.

Monday's game against the Nuggets will be the first leg of a five-game Western Conference road trip for the Bucks.