Doc Rivers wasn’t happy with the Sixers bench in Thursday’s loss at Portland

Doc Rivers didn’t pull any punches when talking about his bench following Thursday’s 118-114 loss to the host Portland Trail Blazers.

The 76ers coach said that he was disappointed with his bench on both ends of the court. Portland’s Carmelo Anthony outscored the Sixers bench by himself, 24-19.

A 10-time all-star, Anthony was especially hot in the fourth quarter when he scored 17 points. Anthony and the rest of the Trail Blazers reserves outscored the Sixers’ subs, 45-19.

“They just didn’t get organized, it’s really disappointing,” Rivers said afterward about the Sixers bench. “We put them in easy sets and they didn’t run it.”

Rivers then expanded on the issue.

“Maybe the pressure of Portland took us out of it a little bit, but I don’t think so,” Rivers said. “... I thought because of that it carried over to the other end. I thought they got frustrated on the offensive end and that carried over to the defense.”

He also pointed out that the second unit totaled just one assist.

The bench was without its best offensive spark, Shake Milton. The third-year guard was out with a left ankle sprain that occurred in the previous game, Tuesday’s 119-111 win at Sacramento. Milton is averaging 14 points per game. He has appeared in 22 games, all but one as a reserve. His ability to create instant offense has been a major reason for the success of the Sixers (18-8).

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In addition, power forward Mike Scott (right knee swelling) missed his 13th consecutive game.

There were some key mental mistakes by the reserves. For instance, Matisse Thybulle entered the game with 3 minutes, 44 seconds left in the first quarter. In a few minutes, Thybulle fouled Damian Lillard twice on attempted three-point field goals. Lillard hit all six fouls shots.

One player who was expected to see more time was guard Tyrese Maxey, who didn’t play in Tuesday’s win at Sacramento and only played 2:42 in Saturday’s 124-108 win over Brooklyn. Against Portland, Maxey played 12:35 and scored five points while shooting 2-for-8, including 0-for-3 from three-point range.

Thybulle played 15:05, the least he has appeared in a game since getting in for 12:21 during the Sixers’ fourth game of the season, a 100-93 win over Toronto on Dec. 29.

In Thursday’s game, Thybulle finished with four points on 1-for-3 shooting, all from beyond the arc. Of the other reserves, Furkan Korkmaz had seven points in 23:56 and Dwight Howard contributed three points, five rebounds and one blocked shot in 13:21.

Besides Anthony, the other top Portland bench scorer was guard Anfernee Simons, who scored 11 points.

Even when Milton returns, the Sixers could use another scorer off the bench. In fact, virtually every other main Eastern Conference contender, such as Boston, Brooklyn and Milwaukee, could use bench help.

The other reason to look for another bench player is so Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and Tobias Harris don’t have to worry about playing too many regular-season minutes. So far Harris is averaging 34.1 minutes. Simmons is averaging 33.1 and Embiid 32.1. That’s not too high and would likely increase in the postseason.

To keep these numbers at a manageable level, the Sixers will have to get solid production from their bench, something that didn’t occur during the Sixers’ second loss to Portland in a week.

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