Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers has received widespread criticism following the team's Game 7 loss and East semifinal series collapse against the Atlanta Hawks.
And during Monday's edition of the Tiki and Tierney show, Tierney didn't pull any punches when discussing Rivers' history of postseason shortcomings.
"Four consecutive Game 7 losses. That's not even mentioning the small army -- most in NBA history -- of blown 3-1 leads, dating back to 2003 with the Magic," Tierney said. "Not only has he failed to be able to deliver sound, adequate, consistent gameplans -- tweaks within the games -- to finish the job when you have a multi-game lead within a series, but now four straight games a Doc Rivers team has walked out of a tunnel... You win, you keep playing. You lose, you're done. And not once, not twice, not three times, but four out of four... Four for four is embarrassing when you're an NBA coach.
"This is where I want to be delicate, but dammit, why do I have to be delicate about Doc? Why? Because everybody loves Doc? I know Doc's a good guy. Doc ain't a big-game coach, period... Dress it up however you want, it doesn't matter. When it's time to win, Doc loses. That's history. That's factual. That is what we have now watched. Multiple times, more than anybody in history, he's up 3-1, they lose the series. And then, even if it gets away from you, you still have a chance to make amends in Game 7: 0-1, 0-2, 0-3, 0-4. Wow, that's embarrassing. It really is...
"So you won a championship with [the Celtics in 2008]. Okay, great. Is that enough to give you what is equating to a 10-year ride, where you're kind of getting the benefit of the doubt unfairly, unjustifiably, unnecessarily, inaccurately? Not on this show, you're not. Doc's not an asset anymore. Doc is no longer a top-10 NBA coach. If I owned a team, I wouldn't be looking to hire Doc Rivers at this point. That's not what I'd be doing... Doc Rivers is a good man. Doc Rivers is incredibly overrated as a head coach. And he proves it every single year with multiple franchises, multiple star players."
According to ESPN Stats & Info, Rivers has 29 losses with a chance to clinch a playoff series, the most losses by a head coach in NBA history. In addition, his .341 win percentage is the worst all-time among coaches with 20-plus games.
Rivers, who turns 60 in October, led the Sixers to an Eastern Conference-best 49 wins in his first season as head coach. He has four years and $42 million remaining on his contract with the franchise, per Spotrac.com.
Tierney's complete thoughts on Rivers and the Sixers can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow the Tiki and Tierney Show on Twitter @TikiAndTierney and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.