Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images
Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers does not care for the narrative associating him with blown 3-1 playoff series leads.
Rivers has overseen teams who have lost 3-1 series edges on three occasions, but he asked reporters to look at each situation on a case-by-case basis (h/t ESPN’s Tim Bontemps).
“My Orlando team [in 2003] was the eighth seed. No one gives me credit for getting up against the [Detroit] Pistons, who won the title [in 2004]. That was an eighth seed. I want you to go back and look at that roster. I dare you to go back and look at that roster. And you would say, ‘What a hell of a coaching job.’ Really.
“I mean, the Clipper team [in 2015] 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. And then the last one [when the Clippers lost to the Denver Nuggets in 2020], to me, is the one we blew. That’s the one I took. We blew that. And that was in the bubble. And anything can happen in the bubble. There’s no home court. Game 7 would have been in L.A.
“But, it just happens. So I would say with me, some of them is…I gotta do better always. I always take my own responsibility. And then some of it is, circumstances happen. This one, let’s win it, and we don’t have to talk about it.”
Rivers is the only coach in NBA history to oversee more than one team that has lost a 3-1 playoff series lead.
No team has ever blown a 3-0 lead, but Rivers’ 76ers are in danger of doing that after losing back-to-back games to the Toronto Raptors in their ongoing first-round playoff series.
Game 6 is scheduled for Thursday at 7 p.m. ET in Toronto.
This article will be updated soon to provide more information and analysis.
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