Ben Simmons, Sixers react to career game, throws shade at Rudy Gobert
The Philadelphia 76ers were missing big man Joel Embiid on Monday as they finished up a 4-game West Coast road trip against the Utah Jazz. They needed to find somebody to replace the scoring output produced by Embiid and they found that in the form of their other star.
Ben Simmons put on a show in Salt Lake City on Monday pouring in a career-high 42 points on 15-for-26 shooting and he shot 12-for-13 from the foul line. He also had 12 assists and nine rebounds, but it came in a 134-123 loss to Utah.
Considering the circumstances, Simmons did what was necessary, he just came up short.
“We anticipated once Joel was scratched that the lineup we put on the floor, we were trying to create a lineup where (Rudy) Gobert would guard Ben and that happened,” said coach Doc Rivers. “The key for us is getting stops and getting it to Ben and getting up the floor. We just felt like no way anybody was gonna stay with him, especially the center. I thought Ben handled that very well.”
Simmons, who took a dig at Gobert over the summer, took another shot at the former Defensive Player of the Year after his big performance.
“I loved it when I saw Rudy was guarding me,” Simmons said with a smile. “I love being able to go at somebody like that. I felt like it was a little bit of a disrespect putting him on me, but it is what it is.”
Ben Simmons, who scored a career-high 42 points, on Rudy Gobert: “I loved when I saw Rudy was guarding me. I love being able to go at somebody like that. I felt like it was a little bit of disrespect putting him on me, but it is what it is.” pic.twitter.com/sjfunBeTIE
— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) February 16, 2021
“Ben’s a guy, he pretty much evaluates a game as he’s playing,” said Tobias Harris who had a big game in his own right. “You can see at the beginning of the game, he knew that he can get by those guys with his speed. We just started finding some different ways to get him involved. He also just had that mindset wanted to do whatever he could to help us win tonight and that was more than anything.”
At the end of the day, it did result in a loss. So the Sixers now have to go back to the drawing board and continue to make adjustments. They now have to return home on Wednesday and try and get a win against the Houston Rockets.
“It felt good that I was able to dominate like that offensively,” Simmons added. “Defensively, I did okay. I didn’t do great, but we want to get this win bad and we didn’t so we gotta move on.”
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