The Sixers win the morbid game

In February 2022 Ben Simmons left Philadelphia for Brooklyn, in the transfer in which James Harden took the opposite path. Simmons, number 1 in the draft in 2016, was for some time the great hope of the Sixers along with Joel Embiid. The final step to prove that The processthat way of tanking professional adopted with joy by those parts, had served for something. In Phila they finally had their star couple and could go back to looking for a ring that has resisted since the 80s. But the dream did not last long, between early eliminations in the playoffs and shots and more missed shots from Simmons, to the point that player and fans, player and franchise, player and teammates, distrusted each other so much and the others mistrusted one that there was no turning back. The dream was now a nightmare and you had to wake up.

The alarm clock rang in February 2022 and since then, first because Simmons spent the rest of last season without playing and then because Embiid missed the first duel of this course, the former teammates had not seen each other again on a basketball court. . So today’s game was more than expected. And not because they were going to give each other a brotherly hug precisely. As the game began, Simmons dedicated himself to defending the Cameroonian and Embiid, who usually likes to try shots facing the basket from medium distances, went straight into contact with his now rival, carrying his 127 kilos over and over again. in areas closer to the hoop. It was clear, in case there was any doubt, that the friendship that could unite them has long since disappeared.

The match then took other paths, but the exchange of contacts and also of words, which there were, between the two, was transferred to the rest of the players and the match ended with six techniques in total. As purely sporting data about the Embiid-Simmons duel, in that first quarter in which they did not hesitate to find the center, he was defended in 6 of the 11 shots he made, five of them by his ex. Embiid made 0/5. But we said that the game ended up going another way. And it is that the Cameroonian, who finished with 26 points, was below the usual in his offensive production. In 2023 he was the top scorer with an average of 35.1 points. And it is that he not only had a great defender like Simmons in front of him, but also Nick Claxton, who has been discovered as the best news of the a priori unexpected news in the Nets. The center is a beast at the back and the fourth player in the league to leave his rivals with a worse field goal percentage (40.9%). The fifth, Kevin Durant (42.5%), was left without playing again. He’s gone seven straight and the Nets have a 2-5 record.

Of course they missed him again in a final in which James Harden won the game scoring two triples and a layup in the last four minutes, after the Nets managed to overcome a rather unfavorable score with a guided 18-4 partial for its two leading scorers, Seth Curry (32 points, best mark with the Nets) and Kyrie Irving (30). There were tables, 120-120, but Harden’s show was going to start. Earlier, in the third quarter, it was Simmons who kept his team alive with 10 of his 12 goals. Opposite, the one who is now the child of the eyes of the local fans, Tyrese Maxey, finished as the Sixers’ top scorer with 27 points in 30 minutes coming off the bench. This adjustment in the rotation (Maxey was the starter at the beginning of the season) has been one of the keys to the awakening of Philadelphia, which has six consecutive victories, eight of the last ten.

The funny thing is that the Nets lost despite making 64.5% of their shots. It is the third best percentage of a team that ends up losing in all of history. The key, among others, were the free throws. The Sixers shot 36 and dunked 35, with Embiid at 13/13. If this team hits the free throws (they always shoot a lot) they have a big part of the way done. If he also plays well, which he has been doing for a while, he becomes the real candidate few thought he was. Right now only their hated Celtics, three victories above, separate them from the leadership of the East. Will 2023 be the year of the Sixers?