The Philadelphia 76ers are one of the favorites to win the Eastern Conference title this season. While having the likes of Joel Embiid and James Harden on the roster is a vital reason for that, the franchise also has an amazing coach in Doc Rivers at the helm.
Rivers is considered one of the greatest coaches of the modern era and he has an amazing resume to support that argument. But on the downside, Rivers has an unwanted record attached to his name, he is the only coach in NBA history to have blown a 3-1 lead three times in his career.
Rivers recently clapped back at people, mentioning this unwanted record time after time. Well, the reason for that is quite simple, his 76ers gained a commanding 3-0 lead in the Round 1 playoffs series against the Toronto Raptors.
But since then, the 76ers have lost back-to-back games and the score is now 3-2. While the 76ers need just one game to win the series, there is a real possibility that Rivers could blow another 3-1 lead in his career.
Upon learning this fact, people have been divided into two factions. There are many that believe that Rivers will blow another 3-1 lead, while others, including NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, have defended the veteran NBA coach. In a recent episode of “NBA on TNT” Shaq said:
“I keep tell you’ll be putting too much onus on the coaches anyway. If we lose a 3-1 lead, it ain’t cuz of the coach, it’s cuz we didn’t step up. … If we’re up 3-1, coaching got nothing to do with us losing 3-4 games in a row, that’s on us.”
https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/1519547439207698432
As Shaq pointed out, there is only so much a coach can do from the sidelines if the team is on a losing streak.
At the end of the day, the role of players who are on the field plays a bigger part in blowing a 3-1 lead than that of the coach. But let’s hope Rivers’ 76ers can finish the series in the upcoming game, otherwise, it will reduce the morale of the team and they could lose a winnable series.
