The Philadelphia 76ers have big expectations going into this postseason. After they replaced Ben Simmons with James Harden in a huge deadline day trade, they theoretically have all the pieces to make a bid for the championship. However, things aren’t going that smoothly either, with Harden recently struggling to score and the Sixers dropping 4 of their last 10 regular-season games.
This has raised some questions about the team’s performance and how they have lined up in the last few games. In the absence of Joel Embiid, DeAndre Jordan was preferred as a starter against the Pistons after Paul Reed had otherwise been given more minutes in earlier games. The backup center role brought questions again during Rivers’ latest press conference, and it seems Doc has had enough because he went off on the reporter asking about it.
https://twitter.com/_YoCliff/status/1513333632676642819
“Let me clarify this one more time for everybody who struggles with this. When there’s a small lineup… we play smaller with Paul. When there’s a big lineup, we play bigger with DJ. Do we all have that now?
“Over the last few games, look at who we’ve been playing, just look at it, they’ve had big 5s in. So against big 5s, because of fouling, we like DJ. Do you understand that? We have a whole coaching staff, who I’m just gonna guess, knows a little bit more. They watch every game, they watch every practice… I’ve been around a long time, trust that.”
Doc Rivers is an interesting case since he has a championship under his belt but is also known for being the coach during some epic blown leads in the playoffs. What the Sixers can do this season will go a long way in defining Rivers and his legacy as well. There are reports of the players not being fully onboard with Doc and if they come up short with Harden and Embiid, he is unlikely to escape criticism from fans and the media.
