Surprise element of Ben’s Philly return amid ‘full Simmons experience’ as ‘soft’ Nets exposed — US View

Ben Simmons made his return to Philadelphia on Wednesday because the Brooklyn Nets fell to an undermanned 76ers 115-106 (all occasions AEDT).

It was an eventful return that had a little bit of every part — and received folks speaking.

Simmons, as anticipated, was met with a hostile response from his outdated fan base, who booed the Aussie when he first touched the ball and each possession thereafter and brutally chanted ‘F*** Ben Simmons’ at occasions.

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The theatrics included Simmons retaliating to the group, doing a Michael Jordan fashion shrug of his shoulders when he made a pair of free throws and signalling for it to shush when he transformed a put again shot.

He later missed a pair of free throws to present the Sixers followers at Wells Fargo Centre free Chick-fil-A, a lot to their delight.

Although the booing of the Aussie was vocal, Simmons famous post-match he “thought it was going to be louder.” Heck, the dynamics had been fairly the alternative to what was anticipated at levels, with Simmons even signing autographs and taking pictures with followers pre-game.

Broadcaster Ernie Johnson additionally stated on TNT he was “glad” the booing of Simmons when he was introduced within the startling line-up was “as bad as it got.”

This notion that the Philadelphia crowd — famend for being among the many most passionate and rowdy in US sports activities — was extra sober than anticipated was shared by others within the US media together with NBA journalist Jackson Frank.

Frank believes the absence of injured famous person duo Joel Embiid and James Harden and the truth that it was technically Simmons’ second time again in Philadelphia — returning in March after being traded whereas injured — “quelled” the vibe at Wells Fargo Centre.

Philly Voice’s Kyle Neubeck additionally famous how the therapy of Simmons didn’t evaluate to when he first returned in March wearing road garments on the bench.

“A lot of people spent all of Wednesday and the days leading into the game talking about just how bad it was going to be for Ben Simmons in his return to Philadelphia,” Neubeck wrote on Phillyvoice.com.

“There was no way it was going to be worse than the first time he returned and simply didn‘t play, when the wound was still fresh and fans were ready to let him have it.”

Hoops Tonight host Jason Timpf supplied different explanation why Simmons didn’t cop it as badly as anticipated.

“In general there was some negative energy directed towards him, but it wasn’t that bad,” he stated.

“First of all, this isn’t LeBron (James) coming back to Cleveland as the best player in the world.

“Ben Simmons is a bad contract right now. He’s played a few good games in a row, but right now he’s not a super desirable basketball player, so it’s not like the Philly fans horribly miss him.

“Secondly, they got James Harden back in that deal. They couldn’t get James Harden if it wasn’t for the Ben Simmons trade.

“The whole Ben Simmons saga worked out pretty damn well for the Philadelphia 76ers.”

In phrases of his precise play, Simmons was promoted again into the beginning line-up alongside Nic Claxton and produced a robust efficiency — most notably within the first half.

He completed with 11 factors, seven rebounds, 11 assists, three steals and three blocks whereas taking pictures 4-of-7 from the sphere and 3-of-6 from the charity swipe to proceed his latest resurgence.

But he additionally light late, with he Aussie going scoreless within the fourth, nor did he try a single shot, when the Nets had been attempting to rally.

Frank finally described it because the “entire Ben Simmons experience”.

“He was really good in the first half, especially during Brooklyn’s hot start — pushing the ball and was good all around getting Brooklyn a lot of transition opportunities and he had a lot of good passes in half court,” he stated on The 30 podcast.

“But the trail play at the five didn’t really work. They got killed inside on the glass because of him and Claxton.

“(Simmons played) Really good perimeter defence, not so much as a big man. Pretty good transition player and first half half court player. But in the second half when they needed him to be a little more of an offensive threat as a scorer, he wasn’t able to provide that.

“Not the efficiency you would look for from Ben. This is kind of who Ben is. He was better against the Grizzlies and Blazers and this is still a major step up from when he missed some time in injury.

“If you’re a Nets fan, I’m sure you’re discouraged with the team result. But I think you continuously see Ben progress back to who he’s been for most of his career — a top 50 player.

“Some of the reasons that led to his departure were evident too. We really got the full Ben Simmons experience in some ways in this game.”

Meanwhile, four-time NBA champion Shaquille O‘Neal, who said he was “proud” of Simmons at halftime for “embracing the challenge” against his old team and stepping up, was less supportive at the end of the game.

“It was a lot of booing, but he played well in the first half, I gave him props. I realised he only hit two points (in the second half) and they lost the game,” he said on TNT.

Indeed, as much as Simmons’ return to Philadelphia was an enormous story, maybe the larger story to emerge was {that a} Sixers aspect with out three starters in Embiid, Harden and Tyrese Maxey, comfortably defeated a full power Nets aspect.

“You talk about championship mentality. When you’re a championship team, you’ve got to beat the teams you’re supposed to beat,” O’Neal added.

“They were definitely supposed to beat this team tonight and they didn’t … if Brooklyn keeps playing like this, they have no shot at winning (the championship).”

The Nets, who’ve been marred by drama this season, most notably surrounding Kyrie Irving, have circled their marketing campaign in latest occasions below new coach Jacque Vaughn.

Brooklyn went into the sport with six wins from its final 9 video games to push again into the playoff dialog.

So to get blown out by a Philly group that had appreciable much less expertise on the courtroom was telling on the place the Nets are at on the entire regardless of their latest upsurge.

The Sixers received the rebound battle 49-35 together with offensive rebounds 20-4. These are effort stats, and it was clear which group introduced it, as position gamers comparable to De’Anthony Melton, George Niang and Paul Reed shined.

“That team in Brooklyn, they’re soft. It was proven again,” NBA legend Charles Barkley stated on TNT.

“This team just has talent, that’s it. It takes a lot more than talent to win.

“You saw all the flaws of the Brooklyn Nets — they’re an awful rebounding team … they have two great offensive players and you’ve got a guy who we don’t know what he’s going to bring in night in, night out and they don’t play defence.”