76ers vs. Grizzlies: Doc Rivers Sounds Off on Challenge Rejection

76ers head coach Doc Rivers reacts to being rejected a challenge against the Grizzlies on Friday.

The Philadelphia 76ers were holding out hope for a fourth-quarter comeback on Friday night. After struggling in the second and third quarters against the Memphis Grizzlies, Doc Rivers gave some of his key starters one final shot to attempt a comeback.

As the fourth quarter progressed, it seemed the Sixers had a chance amid a strong showing by Philadelphia center Joel Embiid and the former Grizzlies guard De’Anthony Melton.

During a critical moment in the fourth quarter, Rivers hoped that an out-of-bounds call against his team would get reversed as he called a timeout and requested a challenge. Winning the challenge would help the Sixers continue to shift the momentum in their favor. Losing it could be one of the final nails in the coffin for the matchup.

Unfortunately, Rivers and the Sixers never received a chance to challenge the play, which caused the head coach to sound off on the referees after the game.

“[We] got it to six, I challenged a call that should’ve been [challenged],” Rivers told reporters during his postgame press conference. “It was a legal challenge, we’ve already been told that but they didn’t give it to us, and (Memphis) scored on that, and it turned the game back to eight. That’s just the little things.” 

When asked about the explanation given to Rivers at the moment, the Sixers' head coach couldn’t even explain for himself.

“One I’ve never heard of,” he continued. “Bottom line is that he said I didn’t call it quick enough. It doesn’t matter when you call it. Once you call a timeout, it’s a challenge. You just can’t make up rules on the fly, and that’s what I felt they were doing, and that should never happen. That should never happen.”

As it turns out, the officiating crew admitted they were wrong following the matchup in Memphis on Friday night. In a postgame Pool Report conducted by Damichael Cole of Commercial Appeal, Crew Chief Sean Wright addressed the situation.

“Looking back at it, he should have been allowed to challenge,” Wright said after the game. 

When asked if there was anything that led to the crew not allowing the challenge in that sequence, Wright admitted that his crew was simply in the wrong once more.

“Not at all,” he continued. “Just looking back at it as we looked at it postgame, he should have been allowed to challenge.”

Would a winning challenge solidify a comeback for the 76ers? Not exactly, but it certainly would’ve helped as they were gaining momentum on both ends of the floor. Ultimately, Philadelphia lost the challenge and lost the game.

With a 117-109 loss on the road, the Sixers dropped to 1-2 on the week, moving their overall record to 12-11. The Sixers will get the next two days off before taking on the Houston Rockets Monday night.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.