Doc Rivers' Unexpected Answer About Blowing 3-1 Leads With Clippers
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The hot seat is on Doc Rivers right now as his Philadelphia 76ers are on the verge of a potential Game 7 against the Toronto Raptors after having a commanding 3-0 lead against the team.
While Rivers is known for winning a championship in 2008 with the Boston Celtics, he's also known as the only coach in NBA history for blowing three 3-1 leads in the playoffs - two of them with the Clippers.
Rivers was pressed about the stat pregame before Game 6 against the Raptors, and he gave an unexpected answer about his blown Clipper leads. The first one he addressed was the 2015 team that blew a 3-1 lead against the Houston Rockets.
"The Clipper team that we lost 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 said.
Even though the Clippers didn't have Chris Paul for the first two games, they still split those two games with a 1-1 lead. After that, they still won two more games very convincingly. The team had a 19 point third-quarter lead and a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter while at home - that's inexcusable. They ultimately ended up somehow losing by double digits too.
Rivers took a bit more accountability when addressing the blown 3-1 lead against the Denver Nuggets in 2020.
"The last one, to me, is the one we blew," Rivers said. "That's the one I thought we blew that. That was in the bubble and anything can happen in the bubble, there's no home court. Game 7 would have been in LA, but it just happens. With me, some of it is I've got to be better always, always take my own responsibility, and then some of it is circumstances happen."
His statement doesn't tell the whole story though, Rivers refused to adjust and take Montrezl Harrell against Nikola Jokic. All of the data was there, and it was a bad match-up. The Clippers had an average of a 15-point lead in Games 5-7 and still somehow managed to lose the same way every time. It was obvious that the team didn't adjust, that Paul George mentioned it as a criticism leading into the 2021 NBA season.
Even if the 76ers lose against the Toronto Raptors tonight, there will still be another game to play, but that still won't stop the chaotic takes from happening.
