Sixers' Doc Rivers Extremely Disappointed With Recent Scheduling

In a matchup against two of the Eastern Conference's top teams, the Sixers would fall short on Thursday night. They would lose to the Milwaukee Bucks 124-117 in game one of a two-game mini-series. 

Fatigue would play a major role in this matchup. From the opening tip, it was clear that one team was fresher than the other. 

The Bucks came into the game having not played since Monday, giving them two full days to recover. Meanwhile, the Sixers would be flying in for the second leg of a back-to-back. 

The schedule was not made in the Sixers' favor for this matchup. After the game, Doc Rivers would give some of his frustration on the matter. 

"Right when schedules come out, you look at schedules, and then you compare them. When I saw this home game against Phoenix and then Milwaukee, what you do immediately you look to see what Milwaukee is doing. Then when you find out they have like three days off, this is a scheduled loss. We're going to have to be superhuman to come in here," said Rivers after the game. 

Things do not get much easier after this back-to-back for the Sixers. They have less time to recuperate for the second matchup scheduled for Saturday afternoon at 3:30. 

After seeing how this was scheduled, Rivers would give the impression it gave him about what the league thought of his team. 

"It's just disappointing when I saw it, because to me what it told me is they didn't think we would be where we would be. That was my first thought. It is what it is, we got to suck it up, and we'll be ready," he said. 

With the weight this matchup help, the NBA put the Sixers behind the eight ball with the added rest given to the Bucks. Now the Bucks have won the season series, giving them the tiebreaker in the standings. 

The top of the Eastern Conference is still not set in stone with around 15 games to go. This grueling schedule has not done the Sixers any favors as they look to hold on to the number one seed.    

Kevin McCormick covers the Philadelphia 76ers for South Jersey's 97.3 ESPN and Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @KevinMcCNBA.