Once again, the Philadelphia 76ers proved why their fans are worried about Doc Rivers and the postseason. It's not that they couldn't lose to the Toronto Raptors, but how they lost what concerns the fandom.
The Sixers scored nearly 40 points in the first quarter, just to score 51 through the rest of the game. They were outdueled in the paint, outworked everywhere on the court, and just bullied on their own hardwood.
Needless to say, Rivers was far from satisfied with the way his team performed, ripping them for not moving the ball and for not executing the game plan. Ironically, he also failed to make any sort of adjustments.
NBA News: Coach Doc Rivers Blasts Sixers After Loss To Raptors
“Just stagnant, no ball movement, ran nothing the entire night," Rivers said. "Didn’t move the ball, didn’t do much. Didn’t execute anything, even out of timeouts. We just had a very poor executing night offensively."
“When you don’t move the ball, you’re not going to get good shots," the coach added. "Walk the ball up the floor, we had no pace to the game. Just the entire way we played tonight other than the first eight minutes, nine minutes was poor."
Sixers Knew The Raptors Will Be Bigger And More Physical
“We knew that coming into the game…We didn’t execute that," Rivers explained. "We talked about it all day about you have to go block them out first and then turn. Instead, we turned. They’re bigger, they’re longer, so if you turn, they’re just going to jump over your back to keep the ball alive, and that’s what they did."
Rivers has a long, well-documented history of blowing big leads with his rotations and failing to adjust in the playoffs. Fortunately, they still have time to fill the gaps they have and shut down that narrative once and for all.
