Doc Rivers Belittles A Reporter: ‘I’m Going to Say It Slow So We Can All Pick It Up’

 

The Philadelphia 76ers ended the regular season on a win Sunday afternoon, defeating the Detroit Pistons 118-106 as star players Joel Embiid and James Harden sat out the game to let the young guys hoop.

One of the those guys, power forward Paul Reed, went off Sunday, scoring 25 points on 12-14 shooting. The improved play from the second-year big man usually indicates an increase in minutes for said player. That won’t be the case according to head coach Doc Rivers who said there won’t be a “Paul Reed Victory Tour” in the postgame presser.

“Let me clarify this one more time for everybody who struggles with this,” a condescending Rivers said when asked about Reed’s minutes. “When there’s a small lineup, I’m going to say it slow so we can all pick it up, we’ll play smaller with Paul. When there’s a big five, we’ll play bigger with DJ (DeAndre Jordan). Do we all have that now?”

The strategy seems fine in principle but Jordan hasn’t exactly been a worthwhile contributor on the court this season as even the Lakers decided they didn’t need the extra size and cut him before he signed with the 76ers.

Rivers continued scolding the press in the room.

“Up until the last three games, lookout who we’ve been playing. Just look at it,” he told the reporter in a hostile tone. “They’ve had big fives in, okay, so against big fives, because of fouling, we like DJ. Do you understand that? We have a whole coaching staff, who I’m just going to guess knows a little more, and they watch every game, they watch every practice. We believe against big fives, DJ is good for us.”

Rivers had stated earlier that he’d love the media to be able to play in these games to understand how difficult it is to win in the NBA.

Rivers finished up his lecture by explaining he has been “around the league a long time,” telling the reporter he should just “trust that” when it comes to basketball.

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