Philadelphia 76ers guard Ben Simmons was having another subpar game on Friday as his offensive numbers just did not look good. He was locked in on the defensive end of the floor, but he was not able to get it going on offense.
Then, he came alive in the fourth quarter scoring 11 points in the final frame and making big plays on both ends to help Philadelphia close out the Boston Celtics 122-110 to take both games from their rivals at home.
Along with his scoring, Simmons also had to take on the challenge of defending Jaylen Brown and slowing him down. Brown got a couple of tough buckets to go, but Simmons made life extremely tough on him. The fact that it came on both ends of the floor is impressive considering it was winning time.
“It was huge,” said coach Doc Rivers. “It was both ends. He made some passes today, I gotta tell you, that they cut it to, I don’t know, six or seven or whatever, and Ben’s pushing the ball up the floor, skip to the cross, we get a 3, I think it was Tobias, I’m not sure who it was, then he goes down the lane twice, then he comes up with a steal. Down the stretch defensively, we put him on Brown. We probably should have done that earlier, in some ways, but we had so many guys in foul trouble that we were a little concerned by it.”
Considering how Joel lEmbiid had to carry so much of the load leading into the final frame, it was time for the other star to step up and do his job. Simmons is such a unique star who can do so many things on the floor and Friday was another example of that.
“We just had to put them away,” explained Simmons. “Offensively, they hit a lot of shots. Kemba, Jaylen, and Marcus were making plays. We had to get stops and then offensively, we had to make plays and take care of the ball. I caught them falling asleep a few times and I tried to make plays for my teammates.”
Simmons only had four points through the first three quarters, but he was already playing a great floor game and that is what Rivers wants to get across to everybody who only focuses on his offensive game.
“He was already playing great and that’s the point I’m trying to make everybody,” said the coach. “He’s doing so many things for this team. His winning formula is amazing and all the things. Last game, he got no credit. He was so important to why we won that game with all the things he’s doing. The little cuts, the little back picks, the rolls, and passes Ben does a lot. He can’t focus on one thing like focus on him just scoring. He’s too good for that to me.”
At the end of the day, Simmons makes a lot of winning plays for his team, and getting the win once the final buzzer sounds is all that matters.
“I love being the guy to make plays,” Simmons added. “I’m confident in my ability to do that late in the game. I’m not worried what time of the game it is, but my team needed me tonight to do that. I’m glad I was able to do that.”
The Sixers will now move on to face the Detroit Pistons on Saturday.
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