Doc Rivers not worried about job security with Sixers after series loss
PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers have been eliminated in the Eastern Conference semifinals for the fourth time in five seasons after falling in Game 6 to the Miami Heat on Thursday 99-90. It was a disappointing finish for a very talented team led by Joel Embiid and James Harden, but they couldn’t overcome issues.
Embiid played with a torn ligament in his right thumb, a broken face, and he battled through concussion protocol just to play in this series. Coach Doc Rivers had to play with some different lineups and the injury to Embiid obviously hurt them in this series.
With this loss comes the coaching rumors. There have been rumors swirling about Rivers possibly joining the Los Angeles Lakers and filling their coaching vacancy while Philadelphia could look into Mike D’Antoni to replace him due to his connections with Harden and Daryl Morey.
After the loss on Thursday, Rivers opened up on his job security as he is not worried about all of that.
“I don’t worry about my job, but I think I do a terrific job, and if you don’t, then you should write it, because I worked my butt off to get this team here,” said Rivers. “When I first got here, no one picked us to be anywhere, and again this year, the same thing. So if that’s how anyone feels, write it and I’m gonna feel secure about it.”
To Rivers’ point, the Sixers were just swept out of Round 1 of the bubble by the Boston Celtics in the 2020 playoffs and they went from that to being the No. 1 seed in 2021 for the first time in 20 seasons.
That was followed up by the Ben Simmons saga to begin the season and he kept the team together and focused on basketball despite that awful situation. The Harden trade then sent shockwaves through the roster and Rivers still kept the team together and they were able to still win 51 games despite a ton of distractions.
“You don’t do it every year,” Rivers added. “Every time you’re wrong, should you lose your job? No. So it’s the same thing, but listen, if you believe that then go with it. I know what I did this year and I feel very good about that, but again, if you believe that, then you just run with it.”
At the end of the day, the Sixers were not able to get the job done. However, Philadelphia had a ton of distractions that could have pulled that team apart and they could have folded. Instead, Rivers kept them together despite a flawed roster outside of the top 4 players. He deserves credit for that.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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