Ben Simmons hits fourth career three-pointer

It’s not often that a guy makes headlines for hitting his only 3-point attempt of the game, especially when it doesn’t tie the game or give his team the edge.

But when you’re notoriously reluctant to shoot Ben Simmons, you create SportsCenter for it.

Yes, it was only the fourth 3 point scorer of his career. Two came last season, and it was his second this year. Yes, the Sixers lost in overtime to the Hawks.

If you understand his year at LSU, Ben Simmons is 5-34 of three in his career.

Just like it’s too much early to write off the LakersThere is no point in over-analyzing the mid-season losses of the Sixers or the Jazz on Friday night.

Whether Simmons truly incorporates the casual trey into his game remains to be seen, but what is certain is that he played the best ball of his career. His trainer, Doc Rivers, explained in an article. in Forbes earlier this month;

“You have to watch the game to see how many times you miss it from both sides,” Rivers said after the game in reference to Simmons. “How many times have we gotten the ball on a bounce, someone pushed it up to get into the paint and lead to a three?” We couldn’t go to the painting tonight offensively. That’s what Ben does. Ben’s ability leads us to take three. He doesn’t necessarily take them; he creates them.

Rivers is fair in this assessment. Simmons leads the league with 93 assists on three points, seven ahead of the next closest player (Dallas Mavericks goaltender Luka Doncic). He also ranks seventh in the league for total points generated from his assists (427).

He has improved since that article. Simmons scored a career-high 42 in a game Joel Embiid missed against the Jazz on February 15. Including that night, he averaged 24.8 points per game on 60.5% shots to go with 7.4 rebounds and 7.8 assists. Oh and Doncic? Simmons kept the MVP candidate at 19 points on 6 of 13 shots in a 111-97 Sixers win on Thursday.

The Sixers are far from perfect, but when they’re healthy they’re dangerous and almost unbeatable this season. With Embiid playing on an otherworldly level and Simmons continuing to show off his growth (remember when the Sixers just had to trade Simmons because the two couldn’t play together?), They’re in a good position for a run at the Eastern Conference finals and maybe more this season.