Doc Rivers Doesn’t Hold Back Assessing 76ers' Defense vs. Thunder

The Oklahoma City Thunder got what they wanted offensively against the 76ers on Thursday. Doc Rivers didn't sugarcoat his team's performance after.

Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers wasn’t thrilled with his team’s defensive performance against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night.

After getting stunned, coming up short 133-114 despite entering the matchup as heavy favorites, Rivers was quick to point out his team’s defensive shortcomings in the loss.

“We were bad defensively,” Rivers admitted. “That had nothing to do with the five that started the game. That had to do with everybody on the floor.”

Since the Sixers have been healthy enough to roll out the same starting five they started the season with, the defense has seen a steep drop-off.

But Rivers doesn’t want anybody to get reality twisted. On Thursday night, it didn’t matter who was on the floor. As a whole, the Sixers’ defense struggled against a young Thunder team who felt like they had something to prove. 

“We got beat,” Rivers continued. “Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander] beat our best defenders tonight over and over again. Got rejected. We lost coverages.”

Overall, the Thunder drained 51 percent of their shots against the Sixers on Thursday. From deep, OKC knocked down 42 percent of their shots. In the paint, the Thunder outscored the Sixers 52-44. And although the Sixers are typically a team that can win the free throw battle, the Thunder outscored the Sixers 31-25 from the charity stripe as well, getting six more free throw attempts. 

Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was highly-efficient from the field and perfect from the free throw line. He finished the night with a game-high of 37 points. Meanwhile, four other Thunder players notched double digits as well. 

The Sixers’ defense has been much better lately after a tough start to the year, but Thursday night against OKC was not a shining example of what they can be. As a result, Philadelphia will hit the road to go out West with a loss to add to their record.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.