Getty Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers
It happened. It finally happened. Ben Simmons hit a 3-pointer.
Prior to Wednesday night, the Sixers star guard had never drilled a 3-pointer in his entire NBA career. He came into the game versus the New York Knicks going 0-for-17 from beyond the arc — and many Philly fans were heavily on his case to shoot the ball. Well, he did and it went in.
The time stamp was 7:15 p.m. Simmons pulled up on what appeared to be a designed 3-point shot from the right baseline with about 8:20 remaining in the first quarter. Sixers long-time play-by-play announcer Marc Zumoff lost it on the call and shouted at the top of his lungs: “Yes, he did it!”
The Sixers were trailing the Knicks 11-10 after Simmons’ drained the back of the net. More importantly, the crowd at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia stood up and gave the enigmatic Aussie a standing ovation. It was the first 3-pointer he attempted since the preseason back on Oct. 8.
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Sixers fans have been clamoring for Ben Simmons to shoot the ball ever since training camp. Whenever he brought the basketball up the court, fans would constantly shout at him to “shoot, shoot” and he never did.
Frustration had been boiling over in Philly for Simmons’ failure to learn how to shoot a jumper. There were even people calling into local sports talk radio and proposing the Sixers trade Simmons while the team could still get something for him. Not anymore.
There was a comparison to Steph Curry.
Telling my kids this was Ben Simmons
There was the talk of making Nov. 20 a national holiday.
November 20th is now an official holiday in Philadelphia #PhilaUnite
There was links to the box score to prove it happened.
BOX SCORE PROOF!!! #TTP #PhilaUnite
And there were memes, plenty of memes.
@TyJohnsonNews @KrystleRich @MikeMiss975 #SixersOutsiders just the beginning lol
Hopefully, this is the start of something beautiful in Philadelphia. People have been waiting a long time for this day.