Doc Rivers defends bench unit after Sixers blow 21-point lead to Knicks

NEW YORK–The Philadelphia 76ers were sitting in the driver’s seat on Sunday night up in New York. They got off to a terrific start as they led the Knicks by 21 and they 63.2% in the first quarter, but they were not able to hold the lead for long.

The Sixers inserted an all-bench unit of Tyrese Maxey, Shake Milton, Matisse Thybulle, Georges Niang, and Montrezl Harrell and the Knicks took advantage of that group. That unit couldn’t get any stops and they couldn’t keep up with the offense and New York rallied to win it 108-97.

“I didn’t think they played any defense and they didn’t pass to each other,” coach Doc Rivers said of that unit’s initial run.

The Sixers put the starters back in and they began to right the ship a bit as Philadelphia was able to rebuild that lead.

Philadelphia held a 79-76 lead entering the fourth before Rivers went bench to the all-bench lineup. Except, he put Paul Reed in place of Harrell. That unit wasn’t much better as the Knicks seized control with that group out there.

“Because we’ve been good at that,” Rivers explained when asked why he went back to the all-bench group. “Just because one half doesn’t work, you don’t vacate the unit. That’s what guys do who lose a lot. So they didn’t play well tonight. Honestly, I didn’t think that’s why we lost the game.”

Rivers has a point. The bench unit was excellent in Friday’s win over the San Antonio Spurs, but the Knicks are a big step up in competition.

Harrell was a minus-15 in three minutes as he had a rough night and Paul Reed was a minus-14 in eight minutes. Joel Embiid was a plus-18 in a game they lost by 11.

“I hate that the numbers look like it was the bench, it was everybody,” Rivers added. “This wasn’t just a bench loss. This was a team loss and I made that clear. We’ll sit and look and we’ll see minus-24 and plus-34s, our stars were in some of that too when (Evan) Fournier was making those shots, and so I just thought it was a team loss. I thought it was more mental and emotional than just playing basketball.”

To Rivers’ point, the Knicks did grab a ton of rebounds. They grabbed six offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter that were big backbreakers and Philadelphia just couldn’t recover. Most of that was with Embiid in the game.

“The game is not just explained by plus-minus sometimes,” Rivers stated. “It’s more than that. Our starters came in, and we still had the lead. So I thought we were just not strong tonight. Mentally, I thought they were the mentally tougher team and they deserve to win.”

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Story originally appeared on Sixers Wire