The Philadelphia 76ers are now facing elimination. After blowing a large lead in both Game 4 and Game 5, the Sixers are now trailing the Atlanta Hawks 3-2 in their Round 2 series, and their dreams of winning an NBA championship come down to having to win Game 6 on the road.
Coach Doc Rivers has been working on changing the culture around this team and he has done terrific things with Tobias Harris while also getting the most out of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, but they find themselves in a spot that nobody saw coming when they convened for training camp back in December.
Now, Rivers will have to find a way to get this team to a Game 7 back in Philadelphia and they will have to first win on the road on Friday.
“I believe in my team,” said Rivers on Thursday. “You get to the next game and it’s a new game. Every game is a single game. If Tobias was saying was tired out of it, does that mean he’s gonna be out of it tomorrow? No, I trust my guys. For the most part, they’ve come through and they’ve played well. I really believe they’re going to do that. If I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t have said that.”
Rivers does have experience in these types of situations. While with the Los Angeles Clippers, Rivers lost Game 5 at home before going on the road and knocking off the San Antonio Spurs to tie the series for 3-3 and then winning in Game 7 at home.
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However, that was also in 2015 and this is 2021 with two different teams.
“One of the players asked me if I ever lost a Game 5 at home and won the series and I said Yeah, I have against the San Antonio Spurs,” Rivers recalled. “I said, but that was then, this is now. You know what I mean? We lost Game 5 in LA, went to San Antonio and won, and then won the Game 7, which might have been one of the greatest games ever as far as the way it was played. Chris Paul made an amazing shot at the end. Unfortunately, he almost tore his hamstring doing it but, he made a big shot.”
The Sixers have to hope that Rivers can call on that experience and he can use any lessons there to apply them with this group in this situation.
“Obviously, individually, I know it’s a task that can be done,” Rivers finished. “I shared that when the guy asked that, but I don’t know what that does for everybody, but all these experiences, you put in the bank, and you try to use them to the best that you can.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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