Doc Rivers struggles in another closeout game
Doc Rivers hasn't been to the conference finals for 11 years. The 76ers haven't for twice as long. They're both still a game away.
Rivers' miserable record in closeout games continued as Philadelphia scored only 13 fourth-quarter points and lost to Boston in Game 6, 95-86. It's the eighth straight time Rivers has lost when a win would have taken him to the conference finals, dating back to 2015.
Doc's Clippers blew a 3-1 lead in their second-round series in 2015, and then again in 2020 against the Denver Nuggets. In his first year in Philadelphia in 2021, the Sixers dropped Game 7 to the Atlanta Hawks, thanks to a signature Ben Simmons play.
The last time Rivers won a closeout game in the second round? May 26, 2012, against the 76ers, one game after Rivers' Celtics failed to close out Philly in Game 6. That game is famous not just for getting the Celtics to the conference finals, but because it's the subject of Adam Sandler's character's elaborate final bet in "Uncut Gems."
Overall, Rivers has won just 10 of his last 30 games when he could have eliminated his opponents, a stretch that goes back to the 2010 playoffs with the Celtics. That's a big reason he's coached more Game 7s than any coach in NBA history. He's also lost nine of them, four more than the next closest coach, Pat Riley.
Philadelphia lost this one when Jayson Tatum made four three-pointers in the final quarter. Perhaps the Sixers have taken on the personality of their coach: When it comes to three-point shooters, they also don't close out in big games.
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