Fired up Ben boosts his ‘average’

Ben Simmons claimed he was neither paying attention nor motivated by Jared Dudley’s “average” comment. But Simmons’ glare said otherwise.

Cast as the villain by the Barclays Center crowd and booed every time he touched the ball, Simmons absolutely torched the Nets with 31 points and nine assists on 11-for-13 shooting. Hardly average. A day earlier, Dudley explained that Simmons is “a great player in transition, and average in the half court.” It wasn’t an especially nasty burn, but calling a player of Simmons’ caliber average in any phase of his game, is dubbed insulting.

So when Dudley air-balled a 3pointer late in the third quarter – one of two shots he missed in a scoreless performance – Simmons gave the Nets forward a death stare. And when asked about it after the game, Simmons couldn’t help but crack a mischievous smile.

“It’s done,” Simmons said. “People are going to say what they want to say. I just got to play.”

Dudley said he and Simmons did not engage in trash talk during the game.

“I feel real confident when I’m in there guarding against him,” Dudley said. “But you gotta give credit, he played phenomenal. The whole team played phenomenal, and they deserve this win.”

Simmons also arrived at Barclays Center with his face on a “Wanted” poster taped outside. The headline read, “Have You Seen His Jumper,” which was another shot at Simmons’ half-court ineptitude.

As it turned out, Simmons didn’t need a jumper to destroy the Nets in Game 3. He got to the rim at will, bullied the smaller defenders and showed that being average in one aspect of the game is okay when brilliant in another.

“I think we forget he’s only 22years-old,” Sixers coach Brett Brown said. “Whether he’s getting booed or there’s something else going on with some level of scrutinizing Ben, he is incredibly confident in himself. He has put in a tremendous amount of work apart from being pretty darn good.

“He had 31 points and shot the percentage that he did. I think he feeds off of that, but not like he’s out there beating his chest. Internally, I think he’s got a tremendous amount of confidence.”