The Philadelphia 76ers were losing the great man Joel Embiid on Monday, when they ended a 4-game trip across the West Coast against Utah Jazz. They needed to find someone to replace the score produced by Embiid and found it in the form of their other star.
Ben Simmons gave a show in Salt Lake City on Monday, setting his career record with 42 points from 15 out of 26 shots and 12 out of 13 on the foul line. He also had 12 assists and nine rebounds, but came in a 134-123 loss to Utah.
Considering the circumstances, Simmons did what was necessary, he simply fell short.
“We anticipated that as soon as Joel was scratched, the lineup we put on the ground, we were trying to create a lineup where (Rudy) Gobert would protect Ben and that happened,” said coach Doc Rivers. “The key for us is to make stops and take it to Ben and lift the ground. We felt that no one would stay with him, especially the center. I thought Ben handled it very well. “
Simmons, who attacked Gobert over the summer, gave the former Defense Player of the Year another chance after his great performance.
“I loved it when I saw that Rudy was protecting me,” said Simmons with a smile. “I love being able to reach someone like that. I felt like it was a little disrespectful to put him on top of me, but it is what it is. “
“Ben is a guy, he practically evaluates a game while playing,” said Tobias Harris, who had a great game on his own. “You can see it at the beginning of the game, he knew that with his speed he can pass those guys. We started to find different ways to involve him. He also had that mentality of wanting to do everything he could to help us win tonight and that was more than anything. “
At the end of the day, this resulted in a loss. Therefore, the Sixers now have to go back to the drawing board and continue to make adjustments. They now have to go home on Wednesday and try to beat the Houston Rockets.
“It was nice to know that I was able to dominate offensively,” added Simmons. “Defensively, I did well. I didn’t do very well, but we really wanted to win this victory and we didn’t, so we have to move on. “
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