Doc Rivers Makes Comparison Between Sixers and '08 Celtics
Doc Rivers has coached some good teams throughout his hall of fame career. One team that tops his list is the 2007-2008 Boston Celtics.
Led by the hall of fame trio of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen, that team managed to win the NBA finals. It has been the only team Rivers has coached to a championship.
Fast forward to today, and Rivers is at the helm of another good team. The Sixers, led by Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Tobias Harris, sit atop the Eastern Conference as the regular season comes to a close.
Before Tuesday's game against the Pacers, Rivers spoke about that championship team from 13 years ago. First, he would go in-depth about Kevin Garnett amid his upcoming Hall of Fame induction, then shifted to the group as a whole.
When asked if there were any similarities between this Sixers' team and that Celtics' team from '08, Rivers immediately gave one prime example.
"Defensively, I would say off the bat. I think it's grown into that for sure. We have the ability to get defensive stops, we can lean on our defense. We have won several games, where, in my opinion, we didn't play great, but in the last few minutes, we just got stops. That's definitely a similarity," Rivers said pregame on Tuesday.
Finishing as the top defensive team in the league has been a goal all season for Rivers. In terms of defensive rating, the Sixers sit inches away from the top spot in the NBA. Their 106.9 rating is good for second-best in the league, with the Lakers in first at 106.8.
Rivers' championship team in Boston also was a defensive juggernaut. They had the top defensive rating in the league that year at 98.1.
Having any sort of similarities to a team with that talent pool should be a huge vote of confidence for the Sixers. Now it is time to see if they can match the results of that historic trio.
Kevin McCormick covers the Philadelphia 76ers for South Jersey's 97.3 ESPN and Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @KevinMcCNBA.
