Chippy win ends with Simmons, Lowry ejected
PHILADELPHIA » During a Dario Saric foul shot in the final moments of the Sixers’ 117-111 victory Monday over Toronto, Raptors guard Kyle Lowry was seen yapping at Ben Simmons. Seconds after play resumed, the two confronted each other on the court, were separated, assessed technical fouls and ejected.
“Nothing,” Simmons said.
No, it was something. What? “Honestly, I don’t know,” Simmons said. “Maybe frustration let him down, that they were losing. I don’t know what it is.”
Before the game, Lowry praised Simmons, saying, “He has an abundance of skills. He can drive the ball. He can pass the ball. He can get in the paint and finish with the right hand and the left hand. He is a very talented, smart, seethe-floor, big guy.”
Postgame whispers, however, were that the Raptors found Simmons to be a verbal pest throughout the game, constantly chiming in with on-court comments.
“I don’t know,” Lowry said. “I guess he thinks he is somebody.”
Both players were ejected with six seconds left. There were some initial hints of a conflict between the two in the hallway. A curtain separates the two locker rooms, which are about 100 feet apart. The Sixers insist there was no such confrontation.
No one, however, could deny the on-court tension.
“Maybe they are trying to test me,” Simmons said. “I don’t know if they are trying to test me or see how I am on the court. But I don’t play around.
“I am not going to take (stuff) from anybody.”
Last week in London, Simmons got into a scuffle with the Celtics’ Marcus Morris. Like Lowry, Morris is from Philadelphia.
“Two Philly guys,” Simmons said. “Maybe it’s a Philly thing. I don’t know. They are tough players. That’s how they play. I play the same way too. I am not going to let you push me around. I am not going to take it.”
Brett Brown tactfully stepped just to the side of the issue Monday. He did suggest, however, a close tape study which he claims will show Raptor Jakob Poeltl of Austria, 4,251 miles from Philly, giving Simmons some unnecessary contact.
True?
“Maybe,” Simmons said. And?
“We got the win. That’s all I am worried about.”
On the undercard Monday, DeMar DeRozan shoved T.J. McConnell, causing a face-to-face, second-quarter confrontation. DeRozan and McConnell both received technical fouls.
“It’s basketball,” McConnell said. “That kind of stuff happens. The shove wasn’t needed. But I know he had no intent behind it. He’s a good guy. So it was just heat-of-the-moment stuff.”
Raptors coach Dwane Casey and guard Fred VanVleet were also assessed second-half technical fouls. And Joel Embiid had a particularly rough, if a more basketball-like, encounter with Pascal Siakam.
With Simmons limited by foul trouble to 27:16 of playing time, McConnell responded with 18 points, eight assists, six rebounds and a necessary edge.
“He brought great energy,” Brown said. “He was a lightning rod for us. We needed him.”
Sunday, Lowry pledged $1 million to Villanova, which will name its new basketball locker room in the rebooted Pavilion the “Kyle Lowry Men’s Basketball Locker Room.”
Monday night, the former Wildcat was to be honored by the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association with its Native Son Award at a dinner in Cherry Hill, N.J.
“He is young man who has come a long way in life,” Casey said. “He’s a survivor. He’s a fighter. He is a great example for young kids in Philadelphia and around the country of what you can do if you stay the course. He has come through a lot. And he is young man that stands for what you want your kids to be, to fight, to survive, to work on his craft. He deserves all the accolades.”
Lowry, who attended Cardinal Dougherty High, remains loyal to his hometown.
“Fly, Eagles, fly,” he said. “If they make the Super Bowl, I will be there.”