The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)

Simmons hits first 3 as 76ers top Knicks

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PHILADELPH­IA — Ben Simmons hit the first 3pointer of his career and had 18 points and 13 assists to lead the Philadelph­ia 76ers to a 109104 victory over the New York Knicks on Wednesday night.

Mike Scott’s fourth 3pointer of the game with 1:29 left stretched the Sixers’ lead to 9995 and they held on after New York’s Marcus Morris hit a pair of 3s in the final 10 seconds. Joel Embiid had 23 points and 13 rebounds, and Scott scored 12 points.

Simmons did the improbable when he fired a 24footer from the corner in front of the 76ers bench and the shot was good, sending the crowd into a frenzy. Simmons received a lengthy standing ovation for the first 3pointer after 17 misses (and one more miss in the postseason) to start his

NBA career. The 23yearold Simmons is an AllStar and a franchise cornerston­e for the Eastern Conference contenders, a tripledoub­le threat each time out.

But never a long ball threat, a fact that earned him derision around the league.

He’s been criticized for his lack of outside shooting, defiant at times about his weakness and spent the offseason working hard on improving his jumper. Simmons said at the start of training camp, if he’s open for a 3point shot, “I’ll take it.“

Simmons sank a 3 against the Guangzhou LoongLions of China in the preseason that had Sixers fans treating the shot like he hit a winner in an NBA postseason game.

Against the Knicks, Simmons took a bounce pass from Furkan Korkmaz and calmly drained the shot with 8:20 left in the first quarter.

“There’s Simmons. Yes! He did it,“76ers announcer

Marc Zumoff exclaimed on the TV call. “Maybe now they’ll finally leave him alone after that! He hits the 3! The first of his NBA career!“

He did it in front of everyone from fans that paid $8 on the secondary market for an upper deck ticket to Hall of Famer Julius Erving. Simmons’ older sister, Liv, clapped back at critics, tweeting, “Now you can all shut the hell up….“

Simmons hit one 3; the fourwin Knicks hit 11, and used a fantastic third quarter to take a 17point lead. Morris led the Knicks with 22 points.

Simmons even played peacemaker in a scrap between his teammate Embiid and Morris, a JayhawkonJ­ayhawk altercatio­n that had Kansas fans everywhere waving the white flag instead of the wheat. Morris dragged Embiid to the court late in the second quarter, and the Sixers AllStar center popped up in anger. Simmons pulled away his teammate to avoid a repeat of Embiid’s brawl last month with Minnesota’s KarlAnthon­y Towns that earned him a twogame suspension. Embiid and Morris jawed at each other and each was hit with a technical foul. Morris also earned a flagrant.

 ?? Chris Szagola / Associated Press ?? The 76ers’ Ben Simmons, right, reacts to being fouled by the Knicks’ Mitchell Robinson as he was going up for a shot during the second half on Wednesday.
Chris Szagola / Associated Press The 76ers’ Ben Simmons, right, reacts to being fouled by the Knicks’ Mitchell Robinson as he was going up for a shot during the second half on Wednesday.

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