The Philadelphia 76ers have lost two consecutive games after being up 3-0 over the Toronto Raptors. The series is heading back to Toronto for Game 6 and many people think the Canadian team can pull off the impossible and become the first team to return from a 3-0 deficit in NBA history.
Even though is a hard job to carry out, the Raptors have a solid team that has made life hard for the Sixers during the series, and Philly has a coach who has blown several 3-1 leads during his career. These two factors make them dream about the impossible comeback.
Rivers have heard all the noise about his prior collapses and decided to fire back at reporters, saying it’s easy to say he’s blown 3-1 leads while not telling the whole story. He first said that the Orlando Magic lost against a No. 1 seed, which was still impressive seeing that they were 8th playing against the 1st seed in the Eastern Conference.
“It’s easy to use me as an example, but I wish y’all would tell the whole story with me,” said Rivers, via Sixers Wire. “My Orlando team was the 8 seed. No one gives me credit for getting up against the Pistons who won the title. That was an 8 seed. I want you to go back and look at that roster. I dare you to go back and look at that roster and you wouldn’t say ‘What a hell of a coaching job’. Really.”
Moreover, he talked about the two times he blew a lead while coaching the Los Angeles Clippers. First, he talked about that incredible collapse against the Houston Rockets in 2015.
“The Clipper team that we lost 3-1,” Rivers continued. “Chris Paul didn’t play in the first two games and was playing on one leg and we didn’t have home court. The last one, to me, is the one we blew. That’s the one I sat we blew that and that was in the bubble and anything could happen in the bubble. There’s no home court. Game 7 would have been in LA, but it just happens.”
Then, he mentioned the most recent case, which happened in the infamous Orlando bubble two years ago.
“I would say with me, some of them is I got to do better always,” Rivers finished. “Always take my own responsibility. Then some of it is circumstances happen. This one, let’s win it and we won’t have to talk about it.”
Rivers has a big challenge now that the Raptors are looking dangerous and ready to shock the world. Nick Nurse is one of the best coaches in the league and he’s shown that even with an undermanned team, he can create a lot of trouble for the Sixers. Doc must be careful or things will look incredibly wrong for him with the first 3-0 blow in NBA history.
