Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers received his fair share of criticism when his team got eliminated from the playoffs by the Atlanta Hawks; but one former player of his really let him have it. Former NBA player Josh Smith tore into Rivers for his lackluster game planning, which he considers the sole reason for Philly’s lost. Sunday, after the game, he let it be known how he felt about the former Los Angeles Clippers coach:
“You talked all that shit about Paul George and how Tyronn Lue was going to have the same offense for that nigga. Shut yo bum ass up man. Your no in game adjustments having ass man,” said Smith. “Start giving niggas they real credit man. That’s why your bitch ass got the karma on your ass and you can’t get past the 2nd round man.”
He did not stop there with the adjustments. Smith, a former Atlanta Hawk, even took it as far as the reason his wife allegedly almost leaving him.
This video comes in at the tail end of a week in which Smith has been trolling Rivers every other day:
If anybody is an expert on Rivers and his playoff game planning, it would be Smith. In 2015, as a member of the Houston Rockets, Smith put on an unbelievable 14-point performance in the 4th quarter of Game 6 in the Western Conference Semifinals against the Rivers-coached Los Angeles Clippers, to save the team from elimination. Ironically, he signed with the Clippers the following offseason but was traded back to Houston after about 30 games.
Josh Smith is not saying anything that the Sixers fanbase has probably not said today about Coach Rivers, or maybe even worse. This was a team with the number one seed in the East, going up against a relatively young, inexperienced Hawks team, but Philly had the solid roster to make the Eastern Conference Finals. However, they apparently could not overcome the shooting woes of Ben Simmons in the series’ 4th quarter or the disappearing of the role players in Game 5. Sure, Sixers guard Seth Curry contributed some scoring, alongside Center Joel Embiid, but the others should have got something going as well, especially at home with a huge lead. This is going to be another catastrophic playoff loss added to Rivers’ resume, including the series against the Rockets and last year’s 3-1 series fumble to the Denver Nuggets in the 2nd round. Yes, Rivers does have a title, courtesy of the 2008 Boston Celtics team but he has had plenty of rough postseason moments since then. Despite how you feel about Josh Smith or the presentation his rant, he is right that Rivers will have to change something in his repertoire to see improve his playoff success.