He spent so much time trying to get away, but Thursday night Ben Simmons found himself back in Philadelphia—and he left with a win, again.
Simmons took all the (many) boos—as well as the myriad “F— Ben Simmons!!” chants—that came his way during his first return to Philly since requesting a trade this summer, and the fans were once again steamed as the Nets registered a dominant 129-100 win over the 76ers.
“It was a good environment to start,” the Nets’ Kevin Durant said. “It didn’t finish that way.”
The seeds of Simmons’ exit were planted after a disappointing playoff loss to the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference semifinals last year.
Simmons heard the Philly cheers from the moment he stepped on the floor for warm-ups. That’s all they got, though, as Simmons spent the entirety of the game on the bench due to a back injury.
Kyrie Irving, Durant and Seth Curry combined for 49 of Brooklyn’s 71 points in the first half. It was a much-needed performance as the Nets had lost 17 of their previous 21 games.
“I think all of us were [playing for Simmons],” Durant said. “We look at Ben as our brother, so we knew that this was a hostile environment and we knew that he didn’t have the opportunity to play and we wanted to come out there and have [the fans] focus on the court, more so than always focusing on him. So they focused on the court tonight, and it’s hard for you to chant at Ben Simmons when you’re losing by that much.”
“I think playing for Ben and the night meaning something to Ben and not only Ben, but ‘Dre, Seth,” Irving said. “When you get traded in this league, it’s not easy to deal with. And you pick up your stuff that you’ve made a home out of; you’re in one city and then you have to transfer to another city, it’s not always easy, so we’ve tried to welcome him in with open arms.
“So when we played tonight, we definitely felt like Ben was on our heart.” he said. “You could see it, he was wearing it, and we just wanted to go out there and play for him and play well. … If you come at Ben, you come at us. You come at anyone else on our team, you come at all of us, and that’s the mentality.”
