Philadelphia 76ers star Ben Simmons had himself a wild 36 hours or so. He was working his way back from a knee injury while also being at the complete centerpiece of the James Harden trade rumors involving Philadelphia and the Houston Rockets.
Once it was all said and done, Harden ended up with the Brooklyn Nets and Simmons is still in Philadelphia. He had himself a solid night in Thursday’s win over the Miami Heat going for 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 12 assists in the win.
“This is a business,” said Simmons. “Things like that happen. The only thing I can control is how I approach my workouts, the games, and my day-to-day thing. I’m just trying to be professional and do the right thing and help my team get wins.”
Simmons did so in a big way on Thursday not only with the triple-double but also on the defensive end taking on the challenge of defending explosive Heat guard Tyler Herro and making it tough for Miami to get into their sets and be able to run any clean looks on that end.
“I thought Ben defensively, I know he had the points, the assists, and the rebounds, but his defense changed the game,” said coach Doc Rivers. “He put pressure on the ball, I thought which extended Miami’s offense.”
It would have been easy for Simmons to sulk and think badly about the organization for putting him in those trade talks. It could have easily been a “they don’t want me” situation, but instead, he buckled down and he played a normal Simmons game to help the Sixers get a win.
“I come into work every day,” Simmons added. “My job is to get better and get wins. All the other stuff, I can’t control. As I said before, all I can control is how I come in with my mindset, with practices, and on the floor, and I had a great time tonight. I’m blessed. I get to play the game I love every day at the highest level in the world. There’s far worse things going on in the world. I’m in a blessed position. If you tell me I would never play the game again, that’d be a different story.”
The Sixers will now hit the road to take on the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday to begin a quick two-game road trip.
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