Simmons fights off flu symptoms to start against Suns

PHILADELPHIA » Long ruled by the scientists of sports, the 76ers Monday ran a back-door play.

Ben Simmons, though admitting to being “sick”, was rolled right into the starting lineup for a game against the visiting Phoenix Suns.

The rookie point guard, who missed an entire season with a foot injury not originally projected to be so serious, wore a hooded warmup shirt and an exhausted look in the locker room before the game. However, he insisted he was ready to play.

“I feel like I kind of hit a wall,” Simmons said. “It all caught up to me. I’ve got to start taking care of myself.”

Oddly, that new commitment to self-preservation did not include taking a night off … that for a franchise infamous for encouraging young players to assume no physical risks.

“I woke up and I didn’t feel like I could play,” Simmons said. “I tried to get myself together, kept taking fluids and decided to play.”

Simmons was less than his dynamic self Saturday in a victory over Detroit, settling for 10 points and committing four turnovers. Even then, Brett Brown said, the rookie was experiencing flu symptoms. Two days later, Brown said, those symptoms continued, not that it would impact the Sixers’ starting lineup.

“We’ll see how it goes,” Simmons said. “Last game was when I started to feel it. The next day, I was tired.”

Simmons said he “could not move” Sunday, but got out of bed around noon Monday and went to the Sixers’ training facility for “treatments.” They did not necessarily work.

“Same,” Simmons said, when asked for an update.

Brown said he felt he would be without Simmons “for a large portion of the day,” Monday.

“Ben was in a bed most of the day,” Brown said. “I will start him.”

Asked what was wrong with Simmons, Brown did not hesitate. said.

*** While Brown insisted that one situation was not tied to the other, Simmons’ availability Monday was fortunate, as T.J. McConnell would miss his third consecutive game with a shoulder injury.

Had Simmons not been available, the Sixers would have been down to combo guards Jerryd Bayless, Nik Stauskas and J.J. Redick and Jacob Pullen as possible point guards.

The Simmons decision, though, was independent of the McConnell injury.

“I don’t think you can connect those dots,” Brown said. “They are mutually exclusive. I don’t believe that influenced the decision to “Flu,” he play Ben.”

McConnell did participate in a pregame shootaround, but still is unable to adequately raise his left arm into a useful shooting position.

“It’s different,” McConnell said. “It’s not a feeling that I like, being out. But seeing my teammates do well is a plus.”

Brown said he expects McConnell to play Thursday against the visiting Lakers.

“I would really like to play Thursday,” McConnell said. “But if this is going to limit what I do, I am not going to ruin myself as a player. But I am going to do everything I can to be ready for Thursday.”

McConnell has been taking massages and doing strengthening exercises to help heal his sprained left AC joint.

“It’s not where I want it to be,” he said. “But it’s getting better.”

*** NOTES » Justin Anderson, out since Nov. 15 with shin splints in his left leg, missed his ninth consecutive game … Derrick Jones, the AllDelco forward from Archbishop Carroll High, is on the Suns’ roster but was serving a G-League hitch and did not make the trip … Furkan Korkmaz has returned from a quick GLeague stint but was declared inactive, as were McConnell, Jahlil Okafor and Markelle Fultz (shoulder) … The Sixers will play the Lakers Thursday night at 8.