Sixers Are Are Still In The Series But Let Me Talk To Doc Rivers
With the Sixers having lost games 2 and 3 of the series against the Boston Celtics and now trailing 2-1.
I still think we can make the series competetive but it’s going to take a huge mental shift on the parts of players not named Joel Embiid, who gave us a solid 30 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 blocks.
Tyrese Maxey is in a pressure spot because he’s 22 years old and the Sixers actually need a 3rd guy to be a threat. Maxey has literally followed James Harden’s act since game 1 giving us 13 points in both games 2 and 3.
The only good thing about Jaylen Brown having a dominant game, is that it increases the likelihood that will leave the Celtics altogether this Summer. However, his and Jayson Tatum’s dominance against us shows that we have a lot of the same weaknesses as the Milwaukee Bucks because we don’t have the collective atheleticism to stay in front of the Celtics stars either.
There’s a Youtuber named Run It Back Philly who covers the Sixers, and in his reaction video, he noted that “somehow the Sixers had put together a team of undersized, unathletic guys”, and you need to understand that this is a direct result of letting Darryl Morey build your roster.
George Niang, PJ Tucker, James Harden, and often on the court at the same time, mind you, and somehow we think we are going to stop Boston’s shooters and ISO gods?
James Harden has taken a huge step back since game 1, this man is back to giving us single digit scoring games, but I honestly think we should expect that from him. A hot 12 points in game 2 followed by a lazy 16 points in game 3, and this is par for the course from him now because he can’t give you 45 points in back-to-back games anymore.
My take on Harden is that he is what he is, but there is another issue concerning Harden that needs addressed.
I want to address the thing with Doc Rivers, who reportedly allowed James Harden to take a trip to Las Vegas during the SIxers first round series against the Brooklyn Nets, and while all is well that ends well, this is a big red flag and referendum on Doc Rivers and his leadership.
There are two fundamental issues with Doc Rivers.
The first is that he really has no faith in younger players, he does not like to play them and he has always preferred working with veteran players, bro waited until late February-March to start playing Paul Reed big minutes, and Shake Milton is lost under his coaching.
The second is his relationships with his star players and in particular, whether he empowers his veteran stars too much.
The idea that Doc Rivers had a chance to veto James Harden’s trip, and that he was told beforehnd that Harden’s planning an “excursion”, and didn’t nix the idea, shows that we wasted our time with this guy as a coach and leader.
What the hell is the point of a veteran coach that cowtows to his star players? We brought you in becasue you were suppose to be able to tell guys “no”, and demand more from them on the court.
This guy, Doc Rivers, along with Darryl Morey are the real problem with the Sixers.
Two guys as coach and general managers who have way too much cache and are far too stuck in what they beieve works, and the whole time the team suffers most from their unproductive choices.
