Doc Rivers on James Harden: 'It Was Challenging' to Coach Star PG on 76ers

It turns out the rumors of tension between Doc Rivers and James Harden were accurate.

During an appearance on the Bill Simmons Podcast, Rivers said coaching Harden was "challenging" because of their disagreements on how to play winning basketball.

"It was challenging, more because we were fighting two things—and not like visually fighting—it was James is so good at playing one way, and the way I believe you have to play to win, in some ways, is different," Rivers said (1:01:13 mark). "Because it's a lot of giving up the ball, moving the ball, coming back to the ball. I would have loved to have him younger, when that was easier for him because giving up the ball and getting back the ball is hard. It's physical, it's exhausting.

"So, it would have been interesting if I would have had him younger where he could have done that more. Coming off of dribble handoffs, going down the hill. He didn't finish as well as he finished [in Houston] because he's older, and that happens.

"So, yeah, at times, to get him to move it and get him to play the way I needed him to play—I thought the first half of the year, we were the best team in the game. I thought James was playing perfect basketball. He was the point guard of the team. He was still scoring, but he was doing more playmaking and scoring. Then in the second half, he started scoring more, trying to score more, and I thought we got stagnant at times. I thought we changed."

The Sixers fired Rivers after their second-round elimination at the hands of the Boston Celtics. Harden, who can become an unrestricted free agent this summer, scored just 22 points on 7-of-27 shooting as the Sixers blew a 3-2 series lead.

Playoff failures have become par for the course for Harden, who has not made an NBA Finals since he won Sixth Man of the Year with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2011-12. The Thunder would trade Harden the following offseason, allowing him to blossom into a superstar in Houston, but Rivers said he developed habits that cause postseason shortcomings along the way.

"What makes James great is that he's one of the best individual players to ever play the game," Rivers said. "Ball-handling, handles the ball, dribbles the ball, attacks. But that also allows you to attack—you know where he's at, and you know where the ball is at.

"So, in the playoffs, when teams are game-planning against you each game, double-teaming, taking the ball out of your hand, making it harder, it's easier to do that to James compared to ... How do you take Steph [Curry] out of the game?"

Over the course of his career, Harden has averaged 22.7 points, 5.5 rebounds and 6.3 assists while shooting 42.4 percent from the floor in the playoffs. In the regular season, those averages go up to 24.7 points, 5.6 rebounds and 7.0 assists on 44.2 percent shooting. Those seem like minor differences in a macro sense, but they can make all the difference in a narrow playoff series—especially as other superstars rise to the occasion in the bright lights.

It's expected that Harden will consider his options in free agency, with re-signing in Philadelphia and a return to the Rockets being the likeliest outcomes. The Sixers offer a straightforward path to contention, with Nick Nurse brought in to replace Rivers and to take them over the hump. Houston's been at the bottom of the standings since Harden's departure but could offer him a chance to play "his" game.

We may get a crystallized look at Harden's priorities with his free-agency decision.