Ben Simmons celebrated his return to Philadelphia with a… defeat! Despite three stars on the sidelines, the C team of the Sixers was able to find the resources to manage a very sad Brooklyn team. (115-106)
For the stats of this match, just click on the magic link.
It was the moment we’ve all been waiting for, Ben Simmons’ return to the City of Brotherly Love! More than a year and a half after his last appearance at the Wells Fargo Center, the leader / strong winger of the Nets finally signed his comeback on his old floor. Spoiler, love was not really on the program despite a few autographs signed before the match. Greeted by boos, the Boomer could see that his popularity rating was no longer flying very high in Pennsylvania. Positive point for him, with the multiple absences on the Sixers side, it was undoubtedly possible to silence this hostile public with a big victory.
Finally… We still had to put the ingredients together to find this win and we can’t say that Brooklyn got its hands dirty that night. Apart from Tobias Harris back from injury, Philly did not have much to oppose Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and therefore Ben Simmons. Yes, but here it is, talent is not enough and the Sixers have put much more heart into the field than their rivals of the day. A stat that shows this desire is the fight to rebound: 49 gobages against 35 in favor of Philadelphia but above all 20 offensive rebounds! It’s hard to win a game when you’re totally open in the racket. As if that weren’t enough, Brooklyn has the annoying tendency to let opposing shooters gain confidence so they don’t hesitate to punish from afar. The open doors are back for the players in the black jersey.
This victory of the day, the Sixers went to get it as a team and difficult to keep only one name at the end of this match. De’Anthony Melton was very good, Paul Reed huge off the bench, Tobias Harris took responsibility after a bad first half, George Niang and Shake Milton brought their stones to the building. Above all, the team never flinched despite some flashbacks from the Nets in the second half. Each Brooklyn run had its response and the money time was rather quiet, Jacque Vaughn even preferring to return his starters 3 minutes from the end in anticipation of tomorrow’s back-to-back.
And the little one Ben Simmons in all this? In the continuity of its last releases, it is very solid. Offensively, it combines rather well with the friends, in defense it is one of the few to wet the jersey and it is always as easy to go to blacken the sheet of stats (11 points, 11 assists, 7 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 blocks). We will also remember the nice little hug with Doc Rivers at the end of the match. No hatchet between Benny and his former coach obviously.
Ben Simmons and Doc Rivers hug it out post game ???? pic.twitter.com/BnNbAbp5wu
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 23, 2022
No Joel Embiid, no James Harden, no Tyrese Maxey and yet no problem for Philadelphia. The Sixers substitutes gave Ben Simmons a proper welcome, with a serious victory, much to the delight of their fans.