Philadelphia 76ers star Ben Simmons is one of the more misunderstood stars in the game. He has a huge impact on the game almost every night despite not putting up big scoring numbers, but he gets criticized often for not scoring.
That was the case on Sunday when he had six points, but he had a playoff career-high 15 assists and 15 rebounds in the Game 1 win over the Washington Wizards. He was criticized for not scoring enough and his teammates came to his aid as they blasted those thoughts.
In Wednesday’s 120-95 Game 2 win, Simmons had 22 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists and when he was asked about the criticism afterward, he fired back.
“I thought it was pretty hard to get 15 assists and 15 rebounds in the NBA Playoffs,” said Simmons. “I thought that was pretty impressive. For me, I’m here to win, and I’m doing what I need to do to help my team win, whatever it is. I’m gonna do that every night, so I’m not trying to prove anybody wrong or anything like that. I’m gonna try to do my job and win. I want a championship.”
After the game on Sunday, coach Doc Rivers called Simmons special as he was able to get stuff done out on the floor. The All-Star guard does not let this type of stuff motivate him, he just goes out and plays basketball.
“It didn’t motivate me because what I did in the first game, my guys are feeling it,” Simmons added. “Tobias (Harris) was scoring, Joel’s (Embiid) scoring. That’s the point of basketball right? People who have it going, you got to give them the ball. I’m not surprised Doc said that because Doc knows the game. A lot of these people who are saying that have never even touched a basketball or never played the game at a high level.”
The Sixers will need Simmons to continue to play at such a high level as the scene now shifts to D.C. on Saturday.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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