PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers pushed their season-best winning streak to five games in thrilling fashion. In an overtime win, they took down the Toronto Raptors despite a great game from Pascal Siakam. The Sixers' 104-101 win over the Raptors was too close for comfort to being a loss, though.
Although the Sixers' win was exhilarating and came down to the wire, it didn't have to be. Philly blew a 14-point second-half lead, allowing the Raptors to go up as much as seven points in the fourth quarter before forcing overtime, where they clinched the win. Just as they did against the Los Angeles Lakers 10 days ago, they blew a late lead and had to take care of business in overtime.
Doc Rivers — an already disliked figure among Sixers fans who is infamous for blowing leads — wasn't stressed about it following the game.
“Listen, everybody blows leads in this league,” Rivers said. “That lead was blown by the [start of the fourth quarter]. So, we won the game. I celebrate that…We won the game and we should focus on the positive stuff. Our guys fought. We didn't have it. We missed wide-open shots tonight. And so when you do that, the other teams probably, at some point, gonna make a run.
“And you know, a lot of teams when they make a run, go the other way. We just hung in there,” he continued. “They got a lead on us. How about talking about us coming back? We actually were down by eight down the stretch. And to me, that should be celebrated.” The Sixers' biggest deficit was actually seven points, not eight, but the point Doc Rivers made still stands.
The Sixers will surely celebrate their win, which moves them to 17-12 on the season. But they should still take note of their inability to put away games and fix the issue.
Follow Us
Subscribe