Simmons’ career-high performance helps Sixers shoot down Rockets

HOUSTON — The Houston Rockets allowed Philadelphia 76ers point guard Ben Simmons to take jump shots on Monday night — and he made them pay.

In Philadelphia’s 115-107 win in Houston, Simmons made 10 of 15 shots, many of them from mid-range, to score a career-high 24 points, adding nine assists and seven rebounds.

Philadelphia head coach Brett Brown said Simmons’ ability to reliably make jump shots will complement his ability to drive or use his size even more effectively in the paint.

“I’m really leaving the whole evolution of his jump shot — when he wants to shoot it, when he feels comfortable shooting it — with him,” Brown said.

“When he feels the confidence to shoot things and people sag off of him, he’s going to shoot it. If he doesn’t, so be it, he’ll go find another way to impact the game. It’s coming.”

Simmons, a 6-foot-10 point guard who was born in Melbourne, Australia, was the first overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft.

He’s shooting 51 percent through his first seven games but has struggled at times outside of the paint and has missed all four of his 3-point attempts.

“I’m comfortable taking them,” Simmons said of jump shots. “I’ve got to start doing that more often.”

After losing 105-104 on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Eric Gordon in Philadelphia on Oct 18, the 76ers snapped an eight-game losing streak against the Rockets, winning in Houston for the first time since Feb 16, 2011.

The Rockets missed nine of their final 10 shots, scoring just four points in the final 3:28 and dropped consecutive games for the first time this season.

Brown credited his team’s defense, particularly on the perimeter, down the stretch for getting late stops against Houston.

“That’s what won game,” Brown said.

“If you blink or you’re a step short on a switch, you get punished badly with this team because of their ability to shoot and to hit 3s.”

James Harden scored 29 points and Gordon had 25. The Rockets shot just 39.8 percent from the floor. Last season, they were 1-7 when shooting below 40 percent.

“I would never put a lot of stock into that,” Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni said of the poor shooting.

“They make them, they don’t make them, whatever. The defense, the ball movement and running the floor is going to be constant, and that requires an effort that I don’t think we’re there yet.”

Harden called the team’s energy “terrible, terrible,” and said the defense allowed too many easy points in the first and third quarters.

“We can’t have those mental lapses on the defensive end, they get momentum,” Harden said.

“They start making shots they probably normally don’t make and it just gives them more confidence to keep shooting.”

The 76ers led 58-56 at halftime. us the