Austin Rivers Says 76ers 'Don't Have the Talent We Have' After Clippers' Loss

The Los Angeles Clippers blew a 19-point third-quarter lead in Tuesday night's 121-110 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Center, and a dejected Austin Rivers lamented his team's second-half effort during a postgame meeting with reporters, according to CSNPhilly.com:

"

We was up 19, man. We're supposed to just squash them. They kept fighting, kept doing what they supposed to do. Everybody know that's they M.O., man. They don't have the talent that we have. They don't have the talent that other teams have. So they bank everything on playing hard. They outwork teams. That's what they do.

"

Shortly thereafter, Rivers clarified his comments and made it a point to credit the Sixers for outscoring the Clippers 62-42 over the third and fourth quarters. 

"I'm not saying they don't have talent, they do," he said, per CSNPhilly. "They're all NBA players. I don't know what it was. We was up 19, maybe we thought we was just gonna cruise, or whatever it was. But they kept fighting, and they won the game."

While it's hard to argue with Rivers' assessment that the Clippers boast more pure skill on their roster, the Sixers have put the talent at their disposal to good use over the past 11 games. 

Through Tuesday's win—which came without Joel Embiid, who's nursing a minor knee injury—the Sixers are 8-3 overall dating back to Jan. 1. Over that stretch, they have posted the NBA's top defensive rating (99.6). 

Rank	Team	Defensive Rating
1	Philadelphia 76ers	99.6
2	Golden State Warriors	101.0
3	Utah Jazz	102.3
4	San Antonio Spurs	102.5
5	Atlanta Hawks	102.5

Rivers' squad, meanwhile, has experienced a minor backslide of late. 

L.A. has dropped three of its last four games since Jan. 19, and all three losses came against teams (Sixers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets) with losing records. 

Not surprisingly, that skid has coincided with the start of Chris Paul's six- to eight-week absence due to thumb surgery.

And considering the Clippers are getting outscored by five points per 100 possessions with Paul off the floor this season, they'll have to come up with ways to hold down the fort until the ball-handling savant is back in action. 

"We've got a lot of s--t we've got to clean up, man," Rivers said, per CSNPhilly. "That's all I'm gonna say. We gotta figure s--t out."

Stats courtesy of NBA.com.