The Philadelphia 76ers were back on Saturday-evening when they welcomed Ben Simmons to the line-up after a one-game absence due to an injury. The All-Star guard made an immediate impression, and the Sixers were able to come home with a 124-108 win over the Brooklyn Nets.
Joel Embiid 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 key factor in the win was Seth Curry’s 11 points, while Danny Green added 11 as well, and Shake Milton had 15 off the bench and Furkan Korkmaz added 13.
Here are the three observations of this win:
The Ben Simmons Effect
It’s very simple. Simmons lets this team flow to the offensive end. On Thursday, the team couldn’t produce an open look to save their lives and they had a lot of open looks in this one, if only because of the attention Simmons’ night in and night out draws. There was one specific possession in the first quarter in which he drove, attracted multiple Nets defenders, and found Green for an open triple. That did not happen on Thursday.
Simmons was also able to create a few open looks for Curry, which is very important as he’s been struggling in recent games since returning to COVID. There was a play in the third quarter where Simmons again drew a lot of attention and was able to kick it out to an open Curry for a triple. The team missed that against Portland. A man who can make his teammates better as he can.
Better defensive effort
The Nets are one of the more explosive offenses in the league and the Sixers have done a pretty good job against them, the Nets just got a lot of hard shots. It certainly helps that they had Simmons back in line to defend the defense, but there seemed to be more energy on that side of the floor. Of course, this has to happen every night and not just because they had their leader back on the ground, but this was a pretty positive evening.
The trajectory to the end of the third quarter was especially impressive as they took full control of the game. The game was tied at 79 and the Sixers then joined and they closed the quarter with a 23-7 run to take a 102-86 lead to the third. Brooklyn couldn’t look good and they made six sales, which led to Philadelphia scoring 12 fast-break points to take control. Simmons’ defense against Nets superstar James Harden was also impressive during that quarter.
Two-man match between Embiid and Curry
This is something that has continued to grow, but the pick and roll and pick and pop game between Embiid and Curry continues. There were a few plays in the first half where they seamlessly played a pick and pop game and that’s something that will continue to be a huge advantage of the offense. Curry’s ability to handle the ball was a huge plus for this team. It also helps that he was finally able to drop some 3-pointers.
The fact that the Sixers now have multiple ball handlers they can turn to will be a big help in getting ahead. It now adds versatility to the offense, as there were a few times Simmons was posted, which is something Coach Doc Rivers has worked with him on. They can’t do that if they don’t have the multitude of handlers on the roster.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! follow us on Facebook!