Doc Rivers definitely tempted fate before his team’s series-clinching victory over the Toronto Raptors on Thursday.
Rivers’ Philadelphia 76ers put away the Raptors with a convincing 132-97 win in Game 6 of their first-round series. After the game, Rivers admitted that he took a serious gamble beforehand. Rivers said that he watched two hours of game film on the Miami Heat, the 76ers’ now-official second-round opponent, even if the 76ers still needed to defeat Toronto at the time. Rivers claimed that he normally never did that but reasoned that there was going to be a quick turnaround if they won Game 6 against the Raptors, per Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice.
Rivers’ gamble ultimately paid off, but you can see how he was playing with fire here. The 76ers had lost two straight games to the Raptors heading into Game 6 in Toronto, and Rivers was already taking heat over his long history of playoff collapses.
Nevertheless, the 76ers will now begin their second-round series against the Heat on Monday in Miami. Philadelphia is obviously hoping for much more success than they had in the second round last postseason.
