The Philadelphia 76ers went to battle in the 2020 NBA Playoffs without their best player in Ben Simmons after he underwent knee surgery to repair a loose body in his left knee. The result was them being swept by the Boston Celtics in Round 1 as they struggled defensively.
They felt the pain of not having Simmons on defense as they had issues against Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Kemba Walker all series long and they did not have enough firepower offensively either. They struggled to defend and shoot the ball and those are two primary skills in a basketball game.
After the dust settled, Simmons was upset that he was not able to be there to help his team and it hurt him to see the team get swept the way they did.
Watching my team get swept hurt, and I don’t ever want to feel that way again.
— Ben Simmons (@BenSimmons25) August 24, 2020
Simmons had an elite defensive season for Philadelphia and his services would have been greatly welcomed in this series against Boston. Coach Brett Brown could only use so many defenders on different guys before things got out of hand. [lawrence-related id=37147,37141,37135]