Tim BontempsESPN
CAMDEN, NJ – The Philadelphia 76ers trained here Wednesday morning before returning to Toronto for the 6th game of the Eastern Conference first-round playoff series against the Raptors on Thursday night, halfway through previous collapse after a 3-0 lead in this series with the best of seven. 76ers coach Doc Rivers is the only coach to preside over more than one defeat after a 3-1 run – something that has happened to him three times in his career. But when Rivers was asked about the history of the playoffs on Wednesday, he said that we should go back and check the record. “Well, it’s easy to use me as an example,” Rivers said after training. “But I would like you to tell me the whole story. Okay;
1 Relevant “My team in Orlando [in 2003] was the eighth seed. No one gives me the praise I faced [Detroit] Pistons, who won the title. This was the eighth seed. I want you to go back and see this roster. I dare you to come back and see this roster. And you would say “What a hell of a coaching job”. Really. “I mean Clipper’s team [in 2015] that we lost 3-1, Chris Paul did not play the first two games and he was playing on one foot and we did not have a home field. And after the last one [when the Clippers lost to the Denver Nuggets in 2020], for me, is what we blew up. That’s what I got. We blew it up. And that was in the bubble. And anything can happen in the bubble. There is no internal court. Game 7 would be in Los Angeles. “But, it just happens. So I would say to me, some of them are … I always have to do better. I always take my own responsibility. And after some of them, circumstances happen. That, let’s win, and we do not need to discuss it. “ In 2003, the Rivers and Orlando Magic – led by future Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady, who won the scoring title that season – took a 3-1 lead over the top Pistons. It was the first season that the NBA returned to a series of the top seven in the first round. “As you know, McGrady – who never made it to the first round of the playoffs until the end of his career with San Antonio – said after winning game 4 to take a 3-1 lead,” It’s nice to be in the second round. “ Detroit immediately won the next three games with 61 points to advance to the second round, and eventually lost to the New Jersey Nets in the Eastern Conference finals before winning an NBA title next season. In 2015, Rivers took that 3-1 lead against, by coincidence, current 76ers star point guard James Harden and basketball business president Daryl Morey, who were then with the Houston Rockets, only to lose. last three games in this series. That included a stunning home break in Game 6, when Houston beat the Clippers 40-15 (mostly with Harden watching from the bench) to turn the 13-point deficit into a 12-point win at the start of the quarter. before the series closes in Game 7. As Rivers said, however, the loss in 2020 is the most memorable. The Clippers – led by Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, who were acquired last summer and selected by many to win the league – led the Nuggets 3-1, only to double-digit lead. The last three games in the series will be sent home from the NBA bubble at the Walt Disney World Resort outside of Orlando, Florida, in a truly shocking way. Right now, though, the 76ers are just trying to avoid adding to their already rough history. Just last year, the 76ers took a 26-point lead in the 5th game of the Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Atlanta Hawks – before losing again at home in the 7th game of the game in which Ben Simmons lost an open dunk late. in the fourth quarter, beginning his course to leave Philadelphia for good. So far in this series, the 76ers have beaten Toronto in the first two games, achieved a victory in overtime behind Joel Embiid’s heroism in Game 3, then saw the Raptors take more or less control of Games 4 and 5. Rivers said that it may be difficult for one team to close another team, but after the turn has passed, both teams know what they have to do to win game 6. “Being 3-0, especially 3-0, I would say that [teams feel differently]”Rivers said. “Many teams do not win these games. The Celtics are the only ones to have won this game [in the first round of this year’s playoffs]. Everyone else lost this game. “From a coaching point of view, you hate that, because you feel like ‘Let’s take care of it.’ Then you’ll get to Game 5 the other night and they played better. that both groups have been notified and both groups have the attention of the other group. “If you do not have that, then we are all in trouble.” Asked what would take things to turn things around in Game 6, Rivers noted the pace at which the 76ers played – particularly offensively – in the first two games and said Philadelphia would have to go back to that if they wanted to close. Toronto and avoid returning for race 7 on Saturday night. “Well, I still believe No. 1 is 63% of the time we got the ball out of bounds last game,” Rivers said. “That means 37% of the time you just pick up the ball after a basket is made up or a free kick or something. So clearly, that has to be better. “We have to make more stops, because they do not run … they run when they can, but when they do not, they use the clock at 22 seconds. So the game is a slow-paced game and a half-court game. So two things: “No. 1, we have to make more stops, No. 2, when we get stops and even in score, we have to play at a better pace. We raise the ball to the court.”
