Individual awards don’t matter much to the Philadelphia 76ers. Joel Embiid rejected the notion he was upset about not winning NBA MVP. And now Ben Simmons has followed suit after downplaying his disappointment in losing out on Defensive Player of the Year.
Simmons, who dropped 18 points in Game 3, finished second to Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz for the league’s top defensive award. Despite talking about wanting to win it all year, the 24-year-old star had a different perspective after his Sixers took a 2-1 lead on the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Bottom line, Simmons wants to win a championship.
“Congrats to Rudy,” Simmons told reporters. “It is what it is. I’m not really concerned about individual awards. I want the championship, that’s my goal. Honestly, the goal was never Defensive Player of the Year. It’s go out there and do my job, and try to be the best defender in the league regardless of the awards. But the ultimate goal is the championship, and I just have to do my job at a high level.”
things lining up nicely for a “No One Likes Us” Sixers title run:
-Embiid loses MVP to Jokic
-Simmons loses DPOY to Gobert
-I lose consciousness reading Scott O’Neil’s Hinkie tweet
The Sixers are 10 victories away from their stated goal of bringing Philadelphia its first parade since 1983. Simmons knows they are getting close to moving on to the next round, but he’s not about to take the Hawks for granted over these next few nights.
“This is the playoffs. You saw it in Game 1 with us, we were down 26 [points] and we came back,” Simmons said. “Everybody is in the playoffs for a reason. This is a good team so we can’t let up whether we’re up 10, 20, 30.”
The latest Sixers news straight to your inbox! Join the Heavy on Sixers newsletter here!
Simmons Locks Down Trae Young Again
The Sixers put Danny Green on Trae Young to start Game 1 and watched him explode for 25 points in the first half. The move was made more out of necessity after Simmons picked up two quick fouls in that one.
Here is how Trae Young has scored on Ben Simmons in his NBA career (updated through Game 3)
🔒87.4 possessions
🔒22 points
🔒30.7% (8/26) from the field
🔒10% (1/10) from 3
The blueprint to stop the Hawks is out & his name is Benjamin freaking Simmons #HereTheyCome #NBAPlayoffs
Simmons took over the assignment in the second half and it has been tough sledding for the Hawks young star ever since. The Defensive Player of the Year runner-up considers it a personal challenge to lock down the other team’s best scorer. While Young is averaging 28 points per game, he has struggled to find a consistent rhythm and looked tentative at times.
He is 26-of-56 (46.4%) from the field while going 8-of-24 (33.3%) from three-point range. According to ESPN, Simmons ended the game guarding Young 42 out of 85 plays in Game 3. Young finished with 28 points.
“The confidence has always been there defensively,” Simmons said of guarding Young. “He’s a smart young player so I got a lot of respect for him so every game’s going to be a little different. Tonight he slowed it down, picked his spots and really attacked. I look forward to guarding the best player every night so that’s my job.”
Building Chemistry with Tobias Harris
Simmons has been banking chemistry with Joel Embiid for four seasons, including three lengthy postseason runs since 2017 (Simmons was hurt for last year’s first-round sweep). They know each other’s favorite spots on the court and how to best motivate one another.
This year the All-Star duo invited Tobias Harris into their elite hoops tree house and the results are paying off big time in the playoffs. Harris is averaging a career-high 23.6 points per game in the postseason while solidifying a legitimate “Big Three” in Philly.
“It’s a lot harder with three than with two,” Simmons said. “Obviously, Joel and I have had that chemistry on the court for a while now, and then working with Tobias, he’s made it easy. He’s continued to get better and better and he’s been a great fit offensively and then defensively he’s stepped up his game a whole lot so when all three of us are in sync it’s very tough for the opposition.”
Tobias Harris this playoffs:
37 PTS, 6 REB, 52 FG%
19 PTS, 9 REB, 69 FG%
29 PTS, 13 REB, 57 FG%
21 PTS, 13 REB, 33 FG%
28 PTS, 9 REB, 53 FG%
20 PTS, 10 REB, 62 FG%
22 PTS, 6 REB, 58 FG%
22 PTS, 8 REB, 63 FG%
Worth every penny.
Comments
Sixers’ Ben Simmons Addresses DPOY Snub: ‘That’s My Goal’