Filtering out the boo birds
76ers’ Ben Simmons not fazed by much
As strange as it might seem now, until he was 14, it was just as likely Ben Simmons was going to turn professional in Australian Rules Football than in basketball.
If you’re not familiar with Aussie Rules, it is because it is played virtually nowhere outside of Australia, where Simmons was born and raised. It is a wild game played with ferocity and brutal physicality.
Players can, and indeed are encouraged to, gain an advantage by slamming their knees into an opponent’s back in order to elevate above him and catch the ball. Off-the-ball altercations are frequent, but punching is a route to suspension, so players sometimes craftily circumvent this by grabbing a fistful of their rival’s jersey, then jabbing him in the throat.
It is actually a wonderfully exciting sport and there is a whole lot more to it than this clumsy description, but the relevant point is that Simmons probably isn’t going to be fazed by a few boos. And that, contrary to popular perception around the NBA and still among some in Philadelphia, he might just be tougher than he looks.
Simmons has been hearing the heat during the past two games of the 76ers’ playoff series against the Nets and reacted to it in the way you want to see from a promising young player. Getting jeered every time he touched the ball, Simmons reeled off a career playoff-best 31 points to steer his team into a series advantage in Game 3. Amid further noise in Game 4, he recorded a line of 15-8-8, then iced the contest with a critical steal with 4.8 seconds remaining.
“Just staying calm, trying to keep everyone together, taking it play-by-play,” Simmons told ESPN. “I think we maintained our mind-set with the game and kept a level head on us.”
Cool heads have been in relatively short supply during the 76ers-Nets dust-up, which gave rise to an early upset alert but now appears headed for a thoroughly predictable conclusion. There has been spicy talk going to-andfro, much of it from Nets agitator Jared Dudley, who kicked things off by labeling Simmons’ halfcourt play “average.”
Dudley and Jimmy Butler were ejected in Game 4, after which Joel Embiid, never one to adopt a vow of silence when controversy creeps up, described Dudley as a “nobody.”
Brooklyn fans got riled before that when Embiid and Simmons laughed their way through a news conference in which Embiid appeared to give an amusing but utterly disingenuous apology for elbowing Nets big man Jarrett Allen.
It seems a while ago now, but actually only a week, that Simmons was hearing boos from his own supporters, coming out of a miserable Game 1 showing that gave the Nets some life and hope.
Yet the the way he responded to that experience is an indicator that at 22, Simmons might not be the finished product but is showing signs of growing into a leader. In the heated moments after the game he snapped that any Sixers fans booing their own players should “stay on that side.”
A day later, he had come to terms with it.
“It’s Philly, that’s what is going to happen,” he told reporters. “I love it. That’s how Philly is. If you’re not playing well, they’re going to let you know, but love being here.”
With Simmons and Embiid arguably the two biggest names on a team with a stacked starting lineup, the noise isn’t going to dim any. Simmons is just a year removed from the low mark of a onepoint effort against the Celtics in the playoffs, and opposing fans will do everything they can to try to induce another meltdown.
Toronto, assuming the Raptors and 76ers end up meeting in the second round, won’t be quiet. But don’t expect Simmons to shirk the challenge, either. Back in his teenage years, he didn’t give up his beloved Aussie Rules because he didn’t like guys jumping on his back. It was because the coach moved him to a position where he couldn’t score as many goals.
And so basketball became his top choice, and the rest is history.
Based on the evidence of the last two games, Simmons looks ready to break through the racket — and make his own noise.