Doc Rivers Believes De’Anthony Melton Was Fouled On Go-ahead Shot In Loss

PHILADELPHIA–The Philadelphia 76ers had a chance late in a game they had no business being in. They were missing three starters and a key bench piece on Saturday in a contest with the Minnesota Timberwolves, but they were presented a chance late to take the lead.

After trailing by as many as 20, they were down 110-109 after De’Anthony Melton drilled a triple. Then, Melton stole the ball from Wolves star Anthony Edwards and he went back the other way. Edwards blocked the shot, but it looked like he pushed Melton on the play.

Rudy Gobert then grabbed the rebound for Minnesota and that was that. The Timberwolves went on to win 112-109 to snap Philadelphia’s 3-game winning streak.

“I saw that,” coach Doc Rivers said of the push. “I saw a super athlete chasing De’Anthony down and I was just hoping ‘I don’t think we’re gonna win this race’. You know? But we did. He got there. I definitely thought he got pushed. There’s no doubt about that.”

“Then I actually thought the more of the foul was on the rebound,” Rivers continued. “I thought Shake (Milton) was inside and got knocked over on the rebound. The fact that we had that it’s pretty awesome, though. That was a heck of a play by De’Anthony. The steal.”

In all reality, the Sixers had no business being in that game with the lack of offensive firepower they were dealing with. The fact that Melton was able to make that play and even give Philadelphia a chance late was impressive enough.

“Time and score,” said Melton. “I knew I had to pressure the ball. Doc told me to go for the ball first, before fouling, so I just made a play on the ball, and then when I first tried to scoop it up, I lost it a little bit, but going up, I gotta make the layup. Stuff like that is unacceptable, but I’ll live and figure out how to next time being in that position, just make it.”

The Sixers will now have two days off before hosting the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday.