Adrian Fedkiw
Ben Simmons raised both of his arms in the air and gazed right at Jared Dudley immediately to troll him after he airballed a right wing 3-pointer. Ben also smirked and laughed at Dudley after he argued a call late in the third quarter.
Jared has awoken a beast.
Sweeping layups and hooks, backcuts and finishes at the rim, putback dunks, Simmons’ half-court repertoire was on full display Thursday night as the Joel Embiid-less Philadelphia 76ers handled the Brooklyn Nets 131-115 in Game 3 of their first-round series.
Simmons netted a playoff career-high 31 points and hit 11 of his first 12 shots from the floor before finishing 11-of-13 and 9-of-11 from the foul line. He added nine assists, three blocks and two steals as he was also a menace on the defensive end of the floor as he helped the Sixers take a 2-1 series lead.
this hook shot from ben is *chefs kiss* pic.twitter.com/6e3H82onRl
— Drew Corrigan (@Dcorrigan50) April 19, 2019
Dudley made headlines earlier in the day when he eluded to Simmons’ half-court game being average.
“I think Ben Simmons is a great player in transition. Once you slow him up in the halfcourt, I think he’s average. He’s a player that when he picks up speed he’s a load, so you have to [send] guys with him. It’s taking away his easy baskets.”
This was Simmons’ response.
#Sixers PG @BenSimmons25 responds to Jared Dudley’s comment about the #NBAAllStar being “average” in half court. pic.twitter.com/0BQTtHOnUL
— Keith Pompey (@PompeyOnSixers) April 18, 2019
Average my ass.
LOL BEN'S REACTION TO DUDLEYS AIRBALL pic.twitter.com/Ig9gUg9Amb
— Drew Corrigan (@Dcorrigan50) April 19, 2019
Dudley had 0 points in 16 minutes of play.
Ben Simmons openly laughing right in Jared Dudley’s face is peak disrespect pic.twitter.com/2JvZMzEdrL
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) April 19, 2019
Simmons’ performance overshadowed the storyline that occurred shortly before tip-off when it was announced Embiid wouldn’t play. Even without the big man, you’d think the Sixers should still be able to take care of business against Brooklyn with Simmons, Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris, who went 6-of-6 from beyond the arc and poured in 29 points on 11-of-19 shooting.
But will the trio be good enough after Brooklyn if Embiid can’t suit up for more games.
The Nets whittled an 18-point third quarter deficit to six early in the fourth before Harris knocked down this huge triple to jumpstart a 14-6 Sixers surge where they increased their margin back to 121-106 after Simmons drove in for a dunk.
tObIaS haRrIs IsNt A mAx PlAyEr pic.twitter.com/BQ1shyLJIh
— Drew Corrigan (@Dcorrigan50) April 19, 2019
Greg Monroe started in place of Embiid and was the only Sixer with a negative plus-minus (-9), whereas Boban Marjanovic was plus-18 off the bench. J.J. Redick tallied 26 points and went 5-of-9 from long distance, while Jimmy Butler deposited 16 points for the Sixers, who were 11-of-27 from beyond the arc.
Game 4 is Saturday afternoon in Brooklyn.
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