doc-rivers Page 2 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
If Daryl Morey hires Mike D’Antoni, he’s not serious about winning a title in Philly
Philadelphia 76ers head honcho Daryl Morey has some big decisions ahead of him this offseason. After another disappointing second-round exit in the postseason, the Sixers parted ways with former head coach Doc Rivers after three years. In three years, Rivers couldn’t help the Sixers advance any furt...
Tempe voters put an end to the Arizona/Glendale/Phoenix Coyotes sideshow
It was a bad idea from the start. When Gary Bettman enacted his Great Southern Strategy for the NHL, the original Winnipeg Jets, and the Phoenix area never quite fit into it. Phoenix wasn’t a captive market like Tampa or Nashville were, with the hockey teams being the only games in town during the w...
James Harden won the standoff with Doc Rivers
Doc Rivers came, he saw, and he squandered another opportunity to add to his ring count with a generational superstar at his disposal. Less than 48 hours after the Philadelphia 76ers came out punchdrunk in Game 7 against the Boston Celtics, Sixers brass launched Doc Rivers into the sun, possibly inc...
Joel Embiid’s play in Game 7 said more than all the pressers in the world
There isn’t really anything Joel Embiid could have said after his Game 7 beer belch that would have made up for it. He could have laid out all the mea culpas in the world, and Sixers fans are going to be pretty sharp-eyed and tongued (pardon for making you think about Philadelphian tongues) come nex...
When Rajon Rondo retires, no one will remember him like my mom will
Love is a mysterious thing. It can’t always be explained. It involves a certain kind of alchemy. Sometimes the people you love are widely adored. Other people hear about your love for them and think, “Gee, that’s only natural.” Other times, the people you love are misunderstood, overlooked, or even ...
George Karl tried to stick up for JJ Redick and should have sat this one out
George Karl picked the wrong day to go after Kendrick Perkins. On the Tuesday episode of First Take, JJ Redick and Perkins had a discussion about the NBA MVP that was loud, animated, and eventually went viral on social media. Perkins is not one to back off of his opinions so after the episode, he pa...
A decade-plus of Eastern Conference mediocrity can’t be easily forgotten
It’s weird how much energy goes into debating which conference is the NBA’s best. It makes sense in college football because schools can’t play all 100-plus teams each year, and strength of schedule determines playoff spots. But in basketball, with all 30 organizations facing each other at least twi...
Is there closure for Ben Simmons in Philly?
Maybe one day Philadelphia sports fans will forgive Ben Simmons for not taking the court at all for the 76ers last season, not shooting in four consecutive fourth quarters, and the play in which he passed the ball to the only Sixer who was arguably a worse shooter than him instead of dunking on Trae...
Hey James Harden, you've got airmail
James Harden’s most iconic sequences are so identical they blur together. Jab step, dribble, dribble again, dribble behind the back, dribble between the legs, dribble one more time… I check my phone… he stutter-steps — oh wait — one more dribble, crossover dribble, crossover dribble, step-back. The ...
Kawhi Leonard’s return puts the Clippers back in the Western Conference hunt
It’d been nearly 16 months since LA Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard played an NBA game before Tuesday night’s preseason win over the Portland Trail Blazers. Leonard finished with 11 points in 16 minutes but, more importantly, looked to be fully recovered from the torn ACL he suffered in game four of ...
We're seeing an NBA coaching reformation
If the success of Boston’s Ime Udoka and New Orleans’ Willie Green has taught NBA ownership anything, when it comes to hiring coaches, it should be out with the old, in with the new. These two rising coaching stars stepped into dysfunctional messes, with Udoka trying to bring together a team that wa...
NBA finally puts respect on Monty Williams’ name
Finally, somebody from the Phoenix Suns organization is getting the respect they deserve. This week, head coach Monty Williams was named NBA Coach of the Year, and it’s about damn time. Williams ran away with the voting racking up 81 first-place votes for a grand total of 458. Memphis Grizzlies head...
How many wrongs make a Jay Wright?
Doc Rivers sounded more shook than ever on Wednesday defending his history of coaching teams who have flamed out after taking resounding leads in past playoffs series’. His voice typically cracks, but in defending himself from criticism of his numerous shortcomings, he sounded more like a First Take...
Funny how the Boston Celtics took off once Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens were out of the way
Ime Udoka is who so many fans — and media members — desperately wanted Brad Stevens to be....
There are several reasons Joel Embiid isn’t the MVP, but the biggest one is availability
I’m already on the record as pro Nikola Jokić for NBA MVP, so don’t take this article as me piling on Joel Embiid — I know, says the person who is expressing more negative thoughts about him. With the regular season in its final week, the Philadelphia 76ers struggled with three consecutive losses, t...
Doc Rivers needs more than motivational tactics to get through to James Harden
It only took 15 games of watching James Harden for Doc Rivers to get annoyed. After a loss against the Detroit Pistons last night — the team’s third straight — where the 76ers got all of eight points from the bench, the coach didn’t put the lack of production on them....
Philadelphia fans were ready to boo Ben Simmons – they wound up booing their team
Irony was at play inside the Wells Fargo Center in Philly on Thursday night....
Calling Ben Simmons
It’s been about two weeks since the monster NBA trade that interrupted Super Bowl week between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Brooklyn Nets. All that build-up and neither Ben Simmons nor James Harden have debuted with their new teams yet. Harden is dealing with a recurring hamstring injury. But what...
NBA steals the spotlight from Super Bowl week with blockbuster James Harden for Ben Simmons trade
Wow. So, the trade that felt like it would never happen finally went down. The Brooklyn Nets have agreed to send James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers for Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, and two first-round picks, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski....
Three years later and nothing has changed, the Lakers are still a mess
Looking back at the Russell Westbrook trade, it makes sense what they were trying to do. The Los Angeles Lakers’ 2020-21 season was cut at the kneecaps by injury. It was the second time that had happened in three seasons. They needed a third star so that if they lost LeBron James or Anthony Davis or...