Doc Rivers didn’t just pick up his first win as Milwaukee’s new head coach on Saturday night in Dallas.
The Bucks’ 129-117 come-from-behind win over the Mavericks also resulted in him being dubbed as the coach of the Eastern Conference All-Star team despite being on the job for less than a week.
The Bucks have the second-best record in the Eastern Conference, but Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla was ineligible to coach the All-Stars again because he had that honor last year.
On Saturday, Rivers also tied Larry Brown for the eighth-most career wins in NBA coaching history. His first opportunity to leapfrog Brown will come Sunday night in Salt Lake City when the Bucks take on the Utah Jazz.
Milwaukee carries some nice momentum into this showdown with the Jazz after digging out of an early 25-point hole en route to a double-digit win in Dallas.
Lillard scored 30 points in the comeback victory, which was the second-largest rally this season after Milwaukee previously overcame a 26-point deficit to Portland.
In addition, the Bucks got a huge performance from Giannis Antetokounmpo. He scored 48 points to go along with 10 assists and six rebounds.
Milwaukee used a 15-0 run late in the second quarter to make it a five-point game, then dominated the second half for the impressive road win.
The feeling is a bit different for the Jazz, who come into this matchup having lost three in a row and six of their past eight.
Utah allowed Tyrese Maxey to go off for 51 points while losing to the Philadelphia 76ers, 127-124, in its most recent outing on Thursday. Utah, which was coming off a six-game road trip, has been idle since then.
The Jazz momentarily led, 120-117, after the Sixers had led most of the game. But they couldn’t hold on down the stretch.
