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Doc Rivers, NBA MVP Joel Embiid, and the rest of the Philadelphia 76ers were knocked out of the NBA Playoffs on Sunday following a blowout loss to the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
The game was a disaster for Philly as they not only lost by 24 points, but their star duo of Embiid and Harden combined for just 24 points in the loss.
Following the game, Embiid has been getting torched for saying, “Me and James [Harden], we can’t win alone. That’s why basketball is played five-on-five. We need everybody to find ways to be better.” Embiid’s comments, however, were largely taken out of context.
Thanks to Embiid’s postgame comments and the porous performance of both him and Harden, some laughable comments that head coach Doc Rivers made have been flying under the radar.
Speaking on Saturday ahead of the decisive Game 7, Rivers said that “analytically we won the game by 20 or whatever.” The Sixers, of course, lost Game 6 by a score of 95-86.
“They had some good shots last game, as well,” Rivers said. “We missed more open shots — analytically, we won the game by 20 or whatever, which, no comment. Having said that, we can’t bank that they’re gonna miss the shots that they had. They had some good shots.”
In addition to Harden and Embiid, the Game 7 loss to Boston was also a bad look for Rivers, as the 61-year-old has now lost 10 Game 7s as an NBA head coach, which is five more losses than anyone else.
As a result of their Game 7 win over the 76ers, Jayston Tatum — who put up a Game 7 record 51 points on Sunday — and the rest of the Celtics are advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals to take on Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat, which is a rematch of the 2020 Eastern Conference Finals.