The all-bench lineup has arguably been the biggest criticism against Doc Rivers in his first season coaching the Sixers. Their inconsistencies on offense have caused that group to struggle on more than one occasion.
Rivers has always been a big believer of the second unit and continues to roll them out without any of the starters. Fast forward to the second round of the playoffs, and Rivers has still not gone away from going to the all-bench unit.
While Rivers did use this lineup in game one against the Hawks, it might have been the final time. After seeing how unsuccessful they were in their stretch, Rivers is unsure of using that group moving forward.
During his postgame availability on Sunday, Rivers could not give a clear answer on using the all-bench lineup as this series progresses.
"We'll see. Tonight it didn't work, but neither did the first group. Both teams were in the minus department. But we typically like one guy like Tobias or Ben with that group. We just played so deep in the first quarter because we were down that it took us out of our normal rotation," said Rivers.
Rivers is not wrong in saying that both groups struggled in game one against Atlanta, but the all-bench lineup cannot continue at this point in the postseason. Their play in game one is clear evidence of that.
The Sixers went with the all-bench unit from the two-minute mark in the first quarter to the eight-minute mark in the second. In that span, three players had a +/- of -14, one was a -15, and one was a -8.
There are multiple adjustments the team needs to make heading into game two, and the rotations should be one of them. As we get deeper into the postseason, one of the Sixers' big three needs to be on the court at all times.
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