The Philadelphia 76ers were whole again on Saturday night as they welcomed Ben Simmons back to the lineup after a one-game absence due to injury. The All-Star guard made an immediate impact and the Sixers were able to come away with a 124-108 win over the Brooklyn Nets at home.
Joel Embiid once again led Philadelphia in scoring with another monstrous game of 33 points and nine rebounds, Tobias Harris added 21 points, 12 rebounds, and six assists, but Simmons made a big impact on both ends of the floor and had 16 points, 12 rebounds, and eight assists.
Another important factor in the win was getting 11 points out of Seth Curry with Danny Green also adding 11, and Shake Milton had 15 off the bench with Furkan Korkmaz adding 13.
Here are the three observations from this win:
It’s very simple. Simmons makes this team flow on the offensive end. On Thursday, the team could not produce an open look to save their life and in this one, they had plenty of open looks just from the attention that Simmons’ attracts night in and night out. There was one particular possession in the first quarter where he drove, attracted multiple Nets defenders, and he found Green for an open triple. That was not happening on Thursday.
Simmons was also able to create a couple of open looks for Curry which is really important because he has been struggling in recent games since his return from COVID. There was a play in the third quarter where Simmons once again attracted a lot of attention and he was able to kick it out to an open Curry for a triple. That is what the team was missing against Portland. A guy who can make his teammates better the way he can.
The Nets are one of the more explosive offenses in the league and the Sixers did a pretty solid job against them, the Nets just made a lot of tough shots. It definitely helps that they had Simmons back in the lineup to quarterback the defense, but there seemed to be more energy on that end of the floor. Of course, this has to be an every night thing and not just because they had their leader back on the floor, but this was a pretty positive night.
The stretch to end the third quarter was especially impressive as they took complete control of the game. The game was tied at 79 and the Sixers then locked in and they ended the quarter on a 23-7 run to take a 102-86 lead into the third. Brooklyn could not get any clean looks off and they committed six turnovers which led to Philadelphia scoring 12 fast-break points to take control. Also, Simmons’ defense against Nets superstar James Harden was impressive down the stretch of that quarter.
This has been something that has continued to grow, but the pick-and-roll and the pick-and-pop game between Embiid and Curry has been continuing to progress. There were a few plays in the first half where the two of them worked a pick-and-pop game seamlessly and that is something that is going to continue to be a big benefit of the offense. Curry’s ability to handle the ball has been a huge plus for this team. It also helps that he was finally able to get a couple of 3-pointers to drop.
The fact that the Sixers now have multiple ball-handlers they can turn to is going to be a big help moving forward. It now adds versatility to the offense as there were a few times when Simmons was posted up which is something that coach Doc Rivers has been working on with him. They’re not able to do that if they don’t have the multitude of ball-handlers on the roster.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
