BOSTON — Doc Rivers was not happy about a report which surfaced just a few hours before the Philadelphia 76ers faced the Boston Celtics in a winner-take-all Game 7 at TD Garden on Sunday afternoon.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Sunday shared how an NBA officiating game report revealed a “significant disparity” between calls that favored the Celtics and calls that favored the 76ers in Thursday night’s Game 6 — a 95-86 win for the Green. Wojnarowski reported 13 officiating errors were disadvantaging to the Sixers while four were a disadvantage to the Celtics.
The Celtics kept their season alive at Wells Fargo Center with that aforementioned Game 6 victory.
“It was disappointing to see, honestly,” Rivers said when meeting with reporters at TD Garden. “Thirteen to four, the disparity in a one-point, two-point game, it’s hard to recover from. It really is.
“And I think when you saw the report, which we read, and then saw the calls that were missed — the trip on James Harden down the stretch when he fell to the floor, the loose ball where they (Celtics) called the timeout and they didn’t have the ball, plus there was a foul on Smart on the play that would have been free throws — that’s hard to recover from. It really is.
“Having said that, it’s a human game and you have to just try to play through it,” Rivers continued. “Usually the disparities are never that great. Most games are two and three (errors) and you can live with those. But 13 to four, that’s hard.”
Controversial crew chief Scott Foster will be on the floor for Game 7 with referee Eric Lewis and umpire Bill Kennedy joining alongside.
Tip off from TD Garden is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET. The Celtics currently are a 5.5-point home favorite.
