With the 76ers in danger of squandering a 3-0 series lead to the Raptors, pressure is mounting on the team and head coach Doc Rivers.
After winning the first three games of the series, the Sixers have lost two straight, opening the door for the Raptors to force a Game 7. Rivers, who has been the head coach of three teams that have blown 3-1 series leads, has clearly taken exception to those that have begun to reference his unfortunate history with series leads.
MORE: Will Raptors create history and overturn 3-0 series deficit?
Ahead of Game 6, Rivers took the time out to explain the past shortcomings of his teams, but his explanation was flawed, to say the least.
Doc Rivers got a little defensive when discussing his past teams' collapses 👀 pic.twitter.com/88PqjDDUZa
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) April 27, 2022
"It's easy to use me as an example," Rivers told reporters on Wednesday. "I wish y'all would tell the whole story with me. My Orlando team was the eighth seed, no one gives me credit for getting up against the Pistons who won the title — that was an eighth seed."
Doc Rivers blown 3-1 leads
In 2003, Rivers led a Magic team led by Tracy McGrady, who finished fourth in MVP voting, to a 3-1 series lead over the Pistons, before losing the series. Good as that Pistons team was, Rivers misspoke in crowning them as champions, as that Detroit team was swept in the 2003 Eastern Conference Finals before coming back to win an NBA title in 2004.
During Rivers' continued explanation of what happened in 2003, he added that people should commend him for building the series lead that eventually vanished: "I want you to go back and look at that roster. I dare you to go back and look at that roster and you would say 'what a hell of a coaching job.'"
It would be 12 years before it happened again, but Rivers continued his response by spinning things forward to an explanation of the Lob City Clippers' collapse against the Rockets in the 2015 Western Conference Semifinals.
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"The Clippers team, that we lost (up) 3-1, Chris Paul didn't play in the first two games and was playing on one leg and we didn't have home court," Rivers added.
Despite Paul being out and LA not having home court advantage, it won Game 1 on the road and, upon Paul's return, earned blowout wins in Games 3 and 4 before losing the final three games of the series, including a Game 6 loss at home where Paul finished with 31 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds 'on one leg' and the Rockets outscored the Clippers 40-15 in the fourth quarter to erase a 13-point deficit.
After explaining series losses in 2003 and 2015, Rivers did concede that his Clippers blew a 3-1 lead in 2020.
"The last one, to me, is the one we blew — we blew that," Rivers said of 2020, complete with an excuse of why it was blown. "That was in the bubble and anything can happen in the bubble, there was no home court. Game 7 would've been in LA. But, it just happens."
Rivers' convoluted explanation ended with some accountability as he added that "I've gotta do better always. I always take my own responsibility and some of it is circumstances happen."
The Sixers just need one win to move on, but a series loss in 2022 would be of unprecedented magnitude as no team in NBA history has overcome a 3-0 series deficit to advance.
We'll see how circumstances impact the remainder of the series.
