Doc Rivers explains what went wrong for Sixers on final play vs. Celtics
The Philadelphia 76ers were having themselves a rough offensive night on Wednesday on the road. The starters couldn’t get into a rhythm, Joel Embiid was having a miserable night, Tyrese Maxey was struggling, and yet the Sixers still had a chance late against the Boston Celtics on the road.
After Danny Green knocked down a triple late to bring Philadelphia to within 88-87, the Sixers got a stop and were ready to go for the win. Coach Doc Rivers inserted Georges Niang in place of Maxey, but Niang’s triple was well short and Philadelphia fell to the Celtics by one.
“I thought what we were looking for was there, honestly, we didn’t get it there, and then the execution after that wasn’t great,” Rivers explained. “It’s six seconds. It’s hard to score so we didn’t score is what went wrong with us would be my answer.”
Rivers isn’t wrong about that. Philadelphia shot only 37.1% from the floor, they shot 8-for-31 from deep, and 87 points won’t cut it. They were great defensively as they held Boston to 88 points, but the Sixers really needed to find ways to score in this one.
Looking back at the play, it looked like they were trying to get Embiid posted up on Celtics forward Jaylen Brown. Tobias Harris drew a switch from Boston big man Al Horford, but Harris could not get it into Embiid before he found Niang for the 3 that fell short.
“Yeah, with the switch, he had a small forward on him, but that is what it is,” said Rivers. “I’ll tell you, our post passing tonight, we had Tobias with (Jayson) Tatum on the post, we couldn’t make passes. So we need work there for sure.”
Not what you want to see out of a timeout with the game on the line🤦♂️#Sixers #HereTheyCome pic.twitter.com/6qmR8tY85d
— Brodes Media (@BrodesMedia) December 2, 2021
One has to wonder why Rivers took Maxey or even Shake Milton off the floor in this one. Milton had 16 points off the bench and he knocked down two triples as he was one of the few who had a solid night on offense.
“I just wanted shooting on the floor,” Rivers said succinctly.
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