Former Sixers coach Doc Rivers says it was ‘difficult to play at home’ in Philadelphia
The Sixers went 31-4 at home the season before Rivers took over as coach.
Doc Rivers has made a number of stops in his NBA career. He coached the Magic, Celtics, Clippers, and 76ers before taking over at midseason as coach of the Milwaukee Bucks.
But on the latest episode of the Bill Simmons podcast, he shared that one home environment stood out — for all the wrong reasons.
“Usually you play better at home,” Rivers said. “The only place that I thought it was difficult to play at home is in Philly, because of the crowd. I thought it affected our players some.”
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Rivers coached in Philadelphia for three seasons, never making it past the second round of the playoffs. The Sixers went 31-4 at home the season before Rivers took over as coach. The best home record Rivers had with the Sixers came during the the COVID-impacted season in 2020-21, going 29-7 with no fans in the stands. In 2021-22, the Sixers went 24-17 and in 2022-23, his final season in Philadelphia, they went 29-12 at home. The Sixers went 25-16 at home in 2023-24, Nick Nurse’s first season as head coach.
Rivers also discussed his decision to take the Bucks job; the Boston Celtics, who are one win away from their first NBA championship since Rivers’ title in 2008; and who might be in line to win the Finals MVP. Rivers said that putting good duos together like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown — or Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid — can go a number of different ways.
“There’s times where I think I have my team overachieving,” Rivers said. “I thought the Philly team — the year before, they got swept in the first round by Boston, and now we just won the regular-season conference with the same team.”
The Sixers ultimately won just one playoff series in the 2020-21 season, over Washington in the first round, before losing to Atlanta in seven games.