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Tim BontempsESPN
Winston Churchill once said of Russia: “It’s a riddle wrapped in a mystery within an enigma.” If there’s one NBA equivalent to that date, it’s Philadelphia 76ers star Ben Simmons.
Maybe there won’t be a more confused player in the NBA than Simmons. It is the size and strength of a center, but it plays with the speed and passing vision of a pointer. He can run and is able to protect all five positions on the court so that no one else in the league can certainly do that.
Still, at the same time, he won’t throw triples, not even mid-range jump shots. And for all the things he does to help win, his offensive adjustment has become an endless source of debate in Philadelphia and beyond, especially playing alongside Sixers star center Joel Embiid.
Let’s highlight the case: Monday night, with Embiid with a late scratch due to back strain, Simmons lined up in the center of the Sixers at the Utah Jazz, the team with the best record in the NBA.
So what did Simmons do? Make the best game of his career, scoring a maximum of 42 points in the race with nine rebounds and 12 assists, all without making a single shot off the paint.
Ultimately, the Jazz prevailed, beating the Sixers by 134-123 to secure the 19th victory in their last 20 games.
The story, however, was that Simmons was playing with the kind of aggression Sixers fans rarely see.
“I mean, if you say so, probably not,” Simmons said with a smile when asked if he’s ever been so aggressive offensively in his NBA career.
“There are nights when I feel like I’m dominant, but maybe it doesn’t look like a 40-point game. I could have a triple-double and we could win by 20, whatever the case. It could be on defense. [But] Yeah Al that sounds pretty crap to me, Looks like BT aint for me either.
Simmons is right. Your game is so common to do things that don’t show up on the scoreboard, either the way you can block other teams ’elite scorers or set up your teammates for open triples.
But the reason Monday’s performance was so open is that, despite his prodigious physical gifts, Simmons rarely imposes his will on the game as he did against the Jazz, particularly in the first quarter. When Philadelphia was ahead 42-35, Simmons finished fourth with 19 points and four assists, scoring or creating 12 of Philadelphia’s 16 baskets.
During his first 24 outings this season, Simmons had scored at least as many points in an entire game three times. On Monday night he did so in the first twelve minutes, facing Jazz center Rudy Gobert and sometimes scoring the best defensive player in the league.
“We anticipated, once Joel was scratched, we were trying to create a lineup where Gobert would protect Ben,” Sixers coach Doc Rivers said. “That happened, and the key for us was to get stops, get to Ben and get him on the ground.
“I just felt like there was no way anyone was going to stay with him, especially a center. So I thought Ben was handling it really well.”
Monday’s loss was the third in a row for Philadelphia, which still remains at the top of the Eastern Conference thanks to the last fights of the other contenders. But in those three defeats, Simmons has slowly seemed to be more aggressive offensively. While this was clearly on Monday, he scored 23 points in last Thursday’s loss to the Portland Trail Blazers (his peak high season) and followed up with 18 points in Saturday’s loss to the Phoenix Suns.
He had only scored up to 18 points in a game twice all season before the Portland game. He has now done so in three consecutive years.
And, according to Simmons, this trend is not an accident.
“Honestly, I’ve been working on my mindset, my mindset [game], a lot these past few weeks, “Simmons said.” I think my mindset … it’s not easy to do that, change the way you play or certain things in the game that are natural to certain people.
“I think I’m getting it. Obviously my score has been a lot higher in the last five and six games. So as long as I can keep doing that, stay closed and keep working on my mind. [game], I think it’s scary. “
Over the past few seasons, there has been endless control over Simmons ’play, such as the lack of a jump, or the times he will disappear on the Philadelphia offensive.
As a result, nights like Monday, when Simmons was the best player on earth, are even more baffling. Why, if you can do it one night, can’t you do it more regularly? His last coach, Brett Brown, openly begged him to shoot triples. And he did, about once a month. His new coach, Rivers, has gone the other way.
The obvious question, following Monday’s performance – and Embiid’s absence – is whether Simmons can produce like this by playing alongside the league’s top scorer. According to Tobias Harris, Simmons offered this performance because the Sixers needed it.
“Ben is a guy, he practically evaluates the game as he plays and you could see it right at the beginning of the game: he knew he could get those guys with his speed. And we just started to find different ways to involve him.” Said Harris.
“… I saw him work on some things, and that was getting into the message and using his body down there that he probably wasn’t as busy as him and shooting at them. It’s just an evolution of his game that continues to unite- he split match after match and also just has that mindset today.
“I wanted to do everything I could to help us win tonight. And that was all, more than anything.”
For the Sixers to be a championship-level team, they will need the version of Simmons that came up against the Jazz to be there when he plays alongside Embiid. Before Monday night, however, it was unclear whether Simmons was able to present such performances.
Now that you’ve done it, the question goes to when (or if) you’ll do it again. So it’s worth the final riddle of the NBA.