Ben Simmons hits first NBA three-pointer as Sixers beat Knicks
Thursday 21 November 2019 09:41, UK
Ben Simmons hit the first 3-pointer of his career, had 18 points and 13 assists to lead the Philadelphia 76ers to a 109-104 win over the New York Knicks on Wednesday night.
Simmons wore a Sesame Street sweatshirt in the locker room, the classic characters lined up on the familiar street. The theme seemed appropriate for 76ers fan, because it was finally time to count Simmons three-pointers.
One! One 3-pointer for Ben Simmons!
The anticipated shot did not win a playoff series or even a big regular-season game. Simmons, though, got the weight of the ridicule for the career '0-for' off his back when, at long last, hit the first three-pointer of his three-year career.
Mike Scott's fourth three-pointer of the game with 1:29 left stretched the Sixers' lead to 99-95 and they held on after New York's Marcus Morris hit a pair of treys in the final 10 seconds. Joel Embiid had 23 points and 13 rebounds while Scott scored 12 points.
But the only shot that mattered in Philly was the three-ball from Simmons, finally, in his 172nd career game.
Simmons acted like it was no big deal.
"It feels good, yeah. You put in work in the summer and it pays off," he said.
Simmons did the improbable when he fired a 24-footer from the corner in front of the 76ers bench and the shot was good, sending the crowd into a frenzy. He received a lengthy standing ovation from the Philly crowd.
The 23-year-old Simmons is an All-Star and franchise cornerstone for the Eastern Conference contenders, a triple-double threat each time out. But he has never been a long-ball threat, a fact that earned him derision around the league.
He has been criticised for his lack of outside shooting, defiant at times about his weakness and spent the offseason working hard on improving his jumper. Simmons said at the start of training camp, if he's open for a three-point shot, "I'll take it."
"Other people get more excited than I do," Philadelphia coach Brett Brown said. "But how can it not be a good thing? But if we're all honest, that is the first legitimate three that he has taken."
Simmons sank a triple against the Guangzhou Loong-Lions of China in the preseason that had Sixers fans treating the shot like he hit a winner in an NBA postseason game.
Against the Knicks, Simmons took a bounce pass from Furkan Korkmaz and calmly drained the shot with 8:20 left in the first quarter.
"There's Simmons. Yes! He did it," 76ers commentator Marc Zumoff said. "Maybe now they'll finally leave him alone after that! He hits the three! The first of his NBA career!"
Simmons even played peacemaker in a scrap between his team-mate Embiid and Morris.
Morris dragged Embiid to the court late in the second quarter, and the Sixers All-Star center popped up in anger.
Simmons pulled away his team-mate to avoid a repeat of Embiid's brawl last month with Minnesota's Karl-Anthony Towns that earned him a two-game suspension. Embiid and Morris jawed at each other and each was hit with a technical foul. Morris also earned a flagrant.
"I just got thrown on the ground and I really don't know why I got a technical foul," Embiid said. "I'm being the victim and didn't do anything. I feel like it's starting to get ridiculous with the flagrants."
It was not the first confrontation between the two. Morris played for Boston when he was trash-talked by the theatrical Embiid. Morris held up three fingers to show Boston was up 3-0 in a 2018 playoff series.
"He started it last year in the playoffs and he keeps going," Embiid said.
They went back-and-forth in the fourth in Philly.
Embiid thundered a two-handed jam off a turnover to tie the game at 82-all and put some life back in the Sixers only for Morris to hit a jumper for an 85-83 lead.
"He was flapping and grabbing," Morris said. "I'm not the one that is gonna take that. He knows that."
