The free-throw line can be a lonely place for someone who is struggling as much as Philadelphia 76ers star Ben Simmons is. The All-Star guard shot just 4-for-14 from the foul line in Wednesday’s Game 5 to the Atlanta Hawks and he is now 12-for-39 from the line in this Round 2 series.
After Wednesday’s Game 5 loss, Simmons afterward said that the free-throw struggles are more of a mental thing. That makes sense as the misses continue to pile up, that trip to the line can be lonely and there can be so much pressure at that time to just knock down a free throw.
“It is a mental game,” said coach Doc Rivers. “We all know that. It’s always been that. When all these guys in the league struggle. I had DeAndre Jordan going through the same stuff during the playoffs and through his career.”
Rivers is right about Jordan who was such a poor free-throw shooter that teams would start hacking him in the first quarter to throw the Los Angeles Clippers off their rhythm.
At this point, Simmons will have to find a rhythm and a routine to try and get everything down pat. At this point of the postseason, there is not enough time to get rid of any mental blocks and he has to just find some type of consistent routine.
[exco_embed id=”d8b9c085-4226-44f1-8495-36ad4e2aa62d”]
“One thing you got to do is keep working on them,” Rivers added. “You got to keep trying to get a routine, then maybe you can lose the mental part because you have checked into your routine but it’s hard to do right now.”
Simmons will have to figure out a way to fight through all of that right now and help his team on the offensive end. His free-throw shooting has continued to be a big issue for this team in the playoffs and it has been weird that his shooting from the line has dropped off the way it has since the All-Star break.
“We just got to keep him working on them and that’s what he’s doing,” Rivers added. “He’s putting in the work, that’s all you can ask him to do right now, the mental stuff is hard to get rid of this easy. So he’s just got to step up there and keep shooting them and we got to keep supporting him.”
Game 6 with the Hawks is set for Friday at 7:30 p.m. EDT from State Farm Arena.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
[mm-video type=playlist id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01f5k5xtr64thj7fw2 image=https://sixerswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]
[lawrence-related id=47495,47450,47448]