Doc Rivers warns 76ers of Celtics' postseason success when down 3-2 - ESPN

CAMDEN, N.J. — A day before a crucial series close-out opportunity against the rival Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers tried to co-opt his opponent's greatest advantage for Thursday's Game 6.

Rivers openly warned his team during meetings Wednesday about the Celtics' recent success in this spot — specifically Boston's huge Game 6 road victory in Milwaukee last season when facing elimination in this same Eastern Conference quarterfinals round.

The Celtics, who dropped a crushing Game 5 to the 76ers on Tuesday night in Boston to be pushed to the brink of elimination, also won a road Game 7 in Miami last season. Both came after demoralizing home defeats as the 76ers just delivered themselves behind 33 points from reigning league MVP Joel Embiid and 30 from guard Tyrese Maxey to take a 3-2 series lead.

Rivers hoped by making it a major talking point, he could perhaps get the Sixers to match the edge the Celtics have repeatedly shown in this position. Over the last two postseasons, the Celtics are 6-1 after home losses and 3-1 when those games are on the road, including a win to close out the Hawks in Atlanta in this year's first round.

«We all look for stuff (for motivation), we talked openly about it as a group,» Rivers said. «Well, they've done this and so they're going to come in with confidence, and we got to be ready for that. You got to get to four (wins) and you haven't done anything. And we talked about that a lot today.»

Rivers said the film study before Wednesday's light workout focused on the amount of open 3-pointers the Celtics were able to generate but failed to make. Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said he felt his team missed 10 «wide open» 3-pointers in the first half alone of Tuesday's 115-103