Some people have a hard life, such as Clippers coach Tyrone Lu, whether coaching the Cavaliers or the Clippers, he reversed the buff and filled it up, leading the team to stage a shocking reversal again and again.
Some people are different, and his team has become the background board for opponent reversals again and again. Take 76ers coach Doug Rivers.
On April 8, Beijing time, the 76ers were once again reversed. With a 15-point lead in the first quarter, the 76ers eventually lost to the Raptors 114-119. This season, this is the 12th time that the 76ers' double-digit lead has been overturned, which can be called the "king of reversals".
When being reversed becomes a habit, are the 76ers really still championship contenders?
Rivers is the champion coach and has been named to the 15th all-time manager, which is his glorious side. The dark side of Rivers is that his name is associated with earth-shattering reversals time and time again.
Far from it, eight of the past two years of playoffs have seen a major reversal of at least 16 points, with Rivers' side falling victim to five. Last season, the 76ers suffered a 26-point and 18-point comeback. When he coached the Clippers in 2020, his team suffered a major reversal of 21 points, 19 points and 16 points.
This season, the 76ers are already the most reversed team, losing a total of 31 games, including 12 double-digit leads, accounting for 38.7%. Moreover, the 76ers' reversals are basically from hard battles.
Take stock:
Playing the Bucks, the 76ers lost twice, leading by 13 points and 14 points.
Playing the Suns, the 76ers lost twice, leading by 15 and 14 points.
Playing the Clippers, the 76ers suffered a 24-point reversal, which is also their worst record of the season.
Playing the Warriors, the 76ers suffered a 19-point reversal and eventually lost as many as 20 points, which was extremely embarrassing.
Playing the Nets, the 76ers suffered a 14-point reversal. Playing the Nuggets, the 76ers suffered a 19-point reversal.
Then there was the Raptors, the 76ers lost to the Raptors three times this season, all of which suffered major reversals, they led by 16 points, 10 points and 15 points in 3 games, and the result was that without exception, they were reversed and lost, and the Raptors, who did not have a tall center, seemed to become the nemesis of the 76ers.
The 76ers have been reversed time and time again, and Rivers is certainly to blame. Rivers, who claims to have hundreds of tactical sets in his notebook, is not good at adjusting in the game, and his adaptability is criticized when the team is in danger.
James Harden also has an unshirkable responsibility. Since he joined the 76ers, the 76ers have lost seven of his 20 games, five of which have been double-digit by opponents, and the frequency is simply too high. During this period, the 76ers were reversed by the Raptors twice, harden only scored 13 points on 3-of-12 shooting in one game, and scored 17 points on 5-of-12 shooting in another game with 6 turnovers. The 76ers were reversed by the Suns, with Harden shooting 2-of-11. Except for the game that was reversed by the Bucks, Harden's other games were not good. The Harden data of the Bucks was gorgeous, but the final quarter was dumb and gave up key three points.
Harden has focused more on organizing offense since joining the 76ers, but now Harden has lost the ease he once had. In the past, Harden could take over the attack at any time and fire, but now Harden's personal offense is a little less sharp. To put it bluntly, at the crucial moment to let Harden pick the ball, he has a hard time moving. Harden's face-to-basket singles efficiency this season may seem good, but harden's individual singles efficiency plummets against these defensively resource-rich teams. In the previous game of losing to the Pistons, Harden could not even break the Pistons' infinite change of defense. Today, in front of the Raptors' group of long-armed monsters, Harden's breakthrough and three points did not take advantage.
Harden can't open up the situation at a critical moment, and the 76ers' offense will rely too much on Embiid and the outside three-pointer. Once Embiid doesn't have a smooth hand, or if the pass he sends when he is clipped does not translate into a score, the 76ers offense can easily reach a stalemate.
In fact, in terms of the performance of the starting lineup, whether it is Sebel or Danny Green playing the starting, the 76ers are doing well. In particular, when Sebel started, the 76ers started with a net win of more than 20 points per 100 rounds, which was full of dominance. The problem is that once it's time to rotate, the 76ers will lose their edge because the bench isn't up close enough. Whether it is Harden leading the team or Embiid and Maxi leading the team, the 76ers rotation time will always have such and such problems.
This season, the 76ers bench averaged less than 27 points per game, the third-lowest in the league. Milton, Cockmaz, Nyon are actually a type, the 76ers just need them to hit the fixed shot, but their defense is problematic, when they can't play high production, high efficiency, they are on the field will only drag down the team.
In addition, the 76ers' second team still has a major hidden danger, that is, embiid's lack of reliable substitutes behind him. Drummond's departure was a huge loss for the 76ers, Paul Millsap was simply unable to play the role of Embiid's bench, and DeAndre Jordan, who joined the 76ers after being laid off by the Lakers, was almost useless. The 76ers finally started Paul Reed, but his contribution to the 76ers' second team didn't help much.
After losing this game, the 76ers are still in 4th place in the East, 1 win behind the 2nd place Bucks in the East and 3 wins behind the Heat. From a "dodgy" Nets perspective, the 76ers are in a good position right now, and if they were in 3rd or 4th place and the Nets made it through the playoffs, they would certainly not hit the Nets in the first round.
The problem is that fourth place in the East isn't good news for the 76ers. According to the current ranking, the 76ers will play against the Raptors in the first round. No matter which way you look at it, the Raptors are not the opponents the 76ers want to meet in the first round.
This season, the 76ers have won only 1 of the 4 games against the Raptors, and all three losses have been reversed by double digits, and the opponent who lost today is also missing the top scorer VanVleet.
Although the Raptors do not have tall centers, the Raptors' forward strength is very strong, the rookie Scotty Barnes, the second half of the outbreak of Siakam, Achuva, Boucher composed of the strong forward, and the height of the 76ers forward is downwind, fighting a small lineup can not fight the Raptors. Embiid has an advantage in the height of the interior, but with the Raptors' athleticism, they can ensure that after pinching Embiid, they can leak as few empty seats as possible to the 76ers, and the return speed is extremely fast. In turn, with the 76ers' defensive resources, it is difficult for them to cover Gary Trent and VanVleet at the same time, two ball-holding, non-ball attacking guards.
Another big hidden danger for the 76ers is that, as things stand, if the two teams meet in the first round, Sebel won't be able to play in the 76ers' road games against the Raptors, which means that Sebel will miss at least the third and fourth games. According to local policies in Toronto, unvaccinated away players will not be able to play with the team in away games against the Raptors. Although Sebel declined to say whether he had completed the vaccination, judging from his pre-match status of "not qualifying to play", he was most likely not vaccinated. Without Sable, the 76ers would have a lot less space problems, but at the same time they would lose a defensive tip who is staring at Fleet and Trent.
That's right, In the playoffs, Rivers could minimize the impact of the lack of strength in the second team by increasing the time they played in the starting five, and they may be reversed less often. But the problem is that Harden's state, the loopholes in the second team, and the qualification problems of Sebel, each of which seems difficult to solve.
If this can't be solved, the 76ers should think not about the championship, but how to avoid the first round.