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The Sixers have lost three straight but there may be a silver lining, especially after the Jazz game: Ben Simmons is starting to play up to his potential. On Monday night, the LSU product produced a career-high 42 points while filling up other parts of the stats sheet that were accustomed to seeing: 12 assists, nine rebounds, a block, and a steal.
“There’s nights where I feel like I am dominant, but it may not look like a 40-point game,” Simmons told FortyEightMinutes and other media via zoom. “I might have a triple-double and we might win by 20, whatever the case is. It might be on defense.”
Simmons’ scoring has been a major subject of discussion in the Philadelphia media. Does he need to be more aggressive? Can he be? Does he have the fire inside him to be a true star on a title contender? Simmons hears the talk and it’s no accident that he’s starting to break out.
“Honestly, I’ve been working on my mentality, my mental [game], a lot these past few weeks,” Simmons said. “I think my mindset … it’s not easy to do that, to change the way you play or certain things in the game that come natural to certain people.”
The former No. 1 pick has now scored at least 18 points in three straight games; leading up to the Portland game on Thursday, he had only done it twice all season.
Perhaps more impressive than the raw point totals is how he’s getting them. Simmons is getting better at capitalizing on his opportunity at the free-throw line. Over his last three games, he’s shooting 84.0% from the line. On the season, he’s averaging a career-high 66.7% and while there’s still room to grow, the uptick completely changes the calculus of how opponents can defend him.
Perhaps no player is better at getting to the rim than Simmons, so much so that opponents are comfortable playing centers on him, as the Jazz did on Monday with Rudy Gobert.
Philadelphia got the loss on Monday but there’s a silver lining that’s perhaps bigger than the regular season contest: Simmons is progressing, growing as a player and he’s got more to unlock.
