Simmons gets pep talk from Iverson
No matter how poorly Ben Simmons plays — and that doesn’t happen often — he can lean on the Sixers’ family for support.
Insisting there was no loss of confidence in Simmons despite his awful game against the Boston Celtics, the club thought it was time to hook their rookie point guard up Friday with Allen Iverson.
If anyone knows how to move on from mistakes, it’s A.I. And he let the Sixers know he’d have a heart-to-heart with Big Ben after the devastating loss to the Boston Celtics Thursday.
“I heard he wanted to talk to me before practice, so I got on the phone with him and spoke to him and he gave me some words of encouragement,” Simmons said. “He said play the game I know how to play, that is just second nature to me.”
Encouragement can’t hurt Simmons, who conceded he’s been suffering from a strain of paralysis by over-analysis. The Celtics have spent the series building a wall around Simmons, and it’s worked.
The Celtics are ahead, 2-0, in the best-of-seven series that resumes Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center (5 p.m.). They’re in the head of Simmons, who says he’s been “thinking too much about everything.
“Every play on the floor,” Simmons said. “I think I’m looking at it with too much detail and not just playing.”
Simmons wasn’t much of a factor in the series opener. In the getaway Thursday, he scored just one point, which has been immortalized on social media with a photoshopped image of his face cropped onto the late Wilt Chamberlain’s body holding that legendary piece of paper. Instead of ‘100,’ for Chamberlain’s 100-point game, the paper has a ‘1’ on it.
What Simmons is going through is no joking matter. He watched veteran point guard T.J. McConnell spark the Sixers to a fourth-quarter lead over the Celtics. When Simmons took over in the fourth quarter, it soon was gone in what became a 108103 Celtics victory.
“This is the worst I’ve played all year,” Simmons said. “That’s about it. You’ve got to look ahead, look forward and get ready to play.”
Sixers coach Brett Brown sees the Celtics picking Simmons up at the foul line, bringing a second defender and making him get rid of the ball essentially because he’s not close enough to the basket to kick it out, or close enough to shoot.
“I think what they’re doing is taking what the league did all year, but just doing it really well,” Brown said. “They’re a disciplined team. They have individual pieces that are exceptional. They really have individual defensive
pieces that are exceptional. Then you take a good scheme, it’s sort of a shell, a full-court shell and they just really do it well.”
Brown wouldn’t leave the explanation there as compared the wall that Simmons sees to the alignments LeBron James used to get.
“Early in LeBron’s days, that was all he saw,” Brown said. “You’re going to live with a pullup, not a layup and you’re going to see five jerseys and five sets of numbers. And I think the Celtics are doing a really good job in that regard.”
Iverson, who turns 43 Monday, minimized the importance of practice with “you’re talking about practice?” He attended home games in the first-round series against the Miami Heat, so don’t be surprised if you see him high-fiving celebrity Kevin Hart courtside.
Simmons can use any energy from anywhere. That’s what he gleaned from his stint on the bench watching the Sixers blow the rest of a 22-point lead and then regain the lead.
“They just picked up their attitude, their intensity, the transition threes,” Simmons said. “They’ve really been locking in to me going to the boards and getting out early. So, I think I’ve just got to be a little quicker. Keep the ball or be the first one down the floor. Or get someone to throw the ball to me.”
And try not to think too much.
••• The Sixers are distributing rally towels to all ticket holders Saturday.
Guard T.J. McConnell encourages fans to use them, citing the home floor advantage the Celtics rode to their Game 2 victory.
“Boston has a good homecourt advantage,” McConnell said. “But I think we have a better one. Our fans are really loud and engaged and they’ve carried us to wins with their energy. And we’re going to need them for these next two home games.”
To rev the fans up the Sixers are hyping the free “Phila Unite Playoff Party,” sponsored by Toyota, Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. at XFINITY Live!
It features Philly musical performers LGP Qua and Bri Steves, 76ers legends, the Sixers Dancers and Sixers Dunk Squad.
There’s also a promotion, as fans 21 and older may purchase a reusable, 22 oz. 76ers and Coors Light cobranded aluminum cup filled with Coors Light at XFINITY Live!
••• The timeout Brown didn’t take in the second quarter while the Celtics were mounting a 20-5 run almost wiping out a 22-point Sixers lead remains a huge topic for discussion.
Even Brown seems to have second thoughts.
“Would you have used a timeout in the last part of that second period?” Brown said. “You could have. You could have.”
Don’t look for Brown to go on a timeout spending spree when the series moves to the Center. On the other hand, he’s certainly studied the lack of calling one to at least quiet the crowd at the TD Center, which was rocking Thursday.
“If it was going to happen, it was about the 3-minute mark, 2:50,” Brown said. “But we were doing OK. And we’re playing with the league’s best-rated team on the floor. So that was the decision I made. And as I admit, if you had to do it again, maybe you would have. But I think the confidence that I have in that group has been earned. It’s not something we just sort of construct in our mind.”