Rivers did not hold back after his team's embarrassing defeat to the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday night.
The Milwaukee Bucks came into Sunday's game at Barclays Center looking to build on a strong 116-101 win over the Boston Celtics just three days earlier, but instead they turned in one of the worst performances of the season.
The Nets, who entered the game with one of the worst records in the NBA at 6-18, dominated Milwaukee from start to finish in a 127-82 blowout that matched the franchise record for margin of victory.
Doc Rivers Blasts Team Effort
After the game, Doc Rivers was brutally honest about what he witnessed on the floor.
"That was awful. Awful all around," Rivers said during his postgame press conference. "On me because I clearly didn't get them ready. And on us."
The veteran head coach went even further in describing just how bad the loss felt, calling it one of the worst games he has been a part of in his entire coaching career.
"That was disappointing, probably one of the more disappointing games I've ever been involved in with the way we performed and competed," Rivers said. "And we wanted to blame everybody but ourselves. We're blaming the refs. We're looking at each other. No one wanted to play hard. We got a lot of soul-searching to do."
A Confusing Loss for Milwaukee
The defeat was especially confusing given the circumstances, as the Bucks had just knocked off the defending champion Celtics and appeared to have some momentum going their way.
Milwaukee shot just 39.2 percent from the field and 22.9 percent from three-point range, both season lows for the team.
The Nets led 37-25 after the first quarter and never looked back, outscoring the Bucks in every period including a 28-11 fourth quarter.
Kyle Kuzma had warned after the Celtics win that the team needed to keep the same energy, but Milwaukee failed to deliver on that message.
The loss drops the Bucks to 11-16 on the season and 3-9 on the road, while the Nets improved to 7-18.
Giannis Absence Looms Large
The Bucks continue to struggle without star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who remains sidelined with a calf injury that is expected to keep him out for roughly four weeks.
Milwaukee is now 2-8 without the two-time MVP this season, and the team has lost three of its last four games overall.
Rivers gave credit to the Nets for their effort while making it clear that his own team did not show up ready to compete.
"Give Brooklyn credit because I thought they played hard as heck," Rivers said. "They moved the ball. They played right. We didn't."
The Bucks will have three days off before hosting the Toronto Raptors on Thursday, and Rivers acknowledged that the extra time might be exactly what his team needs right now.
"After this game, thank God we have three more days," Rivers said. "We got to fix this."