Ben Simmons – A Perfect Decoy for All

So, many were doubting in Ben Simmons lately. If you watched the Undisputed, read the columns of several experts on the web, listen to Jared Dudley’s comments, you all could see that pressure on the reigning Rookie of the Year grew from day to day.

You also probably know about the “missing” posters which were looking for Simmons’ jump shot and several of their versions on the web.

Everybody expected for him to collapse last night in Brooklyn, and that was bound to happen after the news that Joel Embiid won’t play. The Process felt a pain in his knee during the warmup, and coach Brown decided that he should skip the contest.

Embiid got away for his “elbow/laughing incident” for now, and avoided hostile reception of the fans. Yet, the pressure was focused solely on Simmons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSgzMvjdY6w&t=1s

What did he do? Beat everybody!

The Aussie dropped 31 points, had 9 assists and was shooting 11 of 13 from the floor. And not only that, he was 9 of 11 from the free throws.

“I thought Ben was exceptional,” Brett Brown said. “I thought it was one of Ben’s most dominant games. He’s incredibly confident within himself.”

Simmons was flying on the court, dunking, flexing, assisting, scoring, yelling. Each time he had the ball the crowd was booing, but that only motivated the 22-year old.

He was so composed and focused, that as the game neared its end, the Aussie was the one who bossed the Barclays Center, not the fans, or the Nets. He was calling out Jared Dudley on several occasions and taunted the veteran.

Ben Simmons had fun trolling Jared Dudley after Dudley called him an “average” half-court player 🙃 pic.twitter.com/SYJdgJLOrP

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 19, 2019

But he didn’t want to speak about that too much after the match, and decided to put an end to all the stories about that subject. Simply, for Simmons, there is no (and wasn’t) any kind of beef with Dudley.

“I don’t have energy for that,” Simmons said. “Honestly. It’s done. People are going to say what they want to say. It is what it is. I just got to play.”

But what just a few people noticed is the fact that Sixers had one very smart strategy. Simmons was the one who was put out as a decoy and was enduring the pressure, whether was that the media or the fans, while other guys did their jobs perfectly.

Check this out, for the first time since 1978 and the Western Conference semifinals against the Knicks, the 76ers had three players with 25 or more points during one game.

Tobias Harris had a huge game last night, one of the best since he arrived in Philly. He had 29 points and 16 boars, taking some share of Embiid’s rebounds, while on the other hand hitting 6 threes without a single miss. JJ Redick added 26 points, and 5 downtown scored.

Jimmy Butler and Boban Marjanovic jumped in from time to time to do play their roles. They had 30 points combined, with the note that Butler had 7 assists and Boban added 8 rebounds.

Everything really worked out perfect for the guests.

Also, we need to mention Greg Monroe’s performance, as the newest addition to the Sixers’ team began the game in the starting lineup, and was one point short of a double-double with 13 boards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JodUAiQgmmE

As for Simmons, he knows that all the atmosphere and everything around him right now is part of the playoff mind game, and he doesn’t want to give too much attention to it.

“I try not to pay too much attention to what’s going on on social media, and what people say and I can’t let that affect me on the floor. So, I just try to my job and step on the floor and run the point guard position.”

With this victory, Philadelphia erased the loss at home in Game 1 of the series, and they regained the home court advantage. We’ll see if they can repeat a performance like this one and provide themselves a chance to finish the Nets at Wells Fargo Center.

Game 4 is Saturday 3 p.m. ET.