Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers made his worst game as a professional in game 2 against the Boston Celtics and scored only 1 point in 31 minutes. After that, he got a call from sixer legend Allen Iverson.
This was revealed by the Australian Simmons on Friday. “He just told me to play the game the way I know it. And that is simply my further nature… he just encouraged me a little bit,” said Simmons, who hadn’t scored a field goal in the whole game as a professional for the first time in game 2 when Philly lost 103:108.
Simmons said on Thursday after the game that he “attributed the poor performance to himself” and that he had given too much thought on the court. But his self-confidence is intact, as he confirmed on Friday: “It is very high. I’m always confident when I walk on a court. That’s not going to change now.”
Simmons had 5 ball losses in game 2 and now has almost as many turnovers (12) as assists (13) over the series. The Celtics are defending him well, as Sixers coach Brett Brown acknowledged: “They’re doing what the league tried to do against him all season, and they’re doing well. He sees a wall. That’s how they used to defend against LeBron James. They’re trying to get him to take a jumper and not get into the basket. They’re doing good.”
Brown doesn’t think about adjusting Simmons’ minutes, even though his backup T.J. McConnell has done better on the show so far. “I’m not putting Ben Simmons on the bench. He’s the rookie of the year, he’s played 88 games. That was an exception yesterday,” Brown said.
The Celtics will lead the series with 2-0th Match 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals on Saturday evening at 11pm German time in Philadelphia (live on DAZN).