Ben Simmons' 'best game ever' leaves NBA fans in a frenzy
The basketball world has been left in awe by arguably the most complete performance of Ben Simmons' NBA career.
In the continued absence of superstar teammate Joel Embiid, Simmons was once again immense - inspiring his side to a 117-111 victory over the Brooklyn Nets.
Simmons tied a career high with 34 points and added 12 rebounds and 12 assists, with five steals for good measure.
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The 23-year-old shot an incredible 12 from 14 from the field and 10 of 14 from the free throw line.
The ridiculous stat line had NBA fans salivating on social media.
Ben Simmons showed up today. No Embiid, No problem. 4 straight wins for the Sixers #nba #sixers #bensimmons pic.twitter.com/9A2eEDd68l
— ShotClock (@ShotClockMedia) January 20, 2020
Ben Simmons dropped his first career 30-point triple-double 😤 pic.twitter.com/X5PNOxgGGu
— ESPN (@espn) January 20, 2020
BEN SIMMONS FINAL STAT LINE:
34 points, 12 assists, 12 rebounds, 5 steals, 2 blocks, 12-14 FG, 10-14 FT
absolute menace— Drew Corrigan (@Dcorrigan50) January 20, 2020
34 points, 12 rebounds, 12 assists, 5 steals, 2 blocks, just 3 turnovers on 12-14 FG in 42 minutes for Ben Simmons. Sheesh!
— Andrew Porter (@And_Porter) January 20, 2020
Best game he’s ever had. He was amazing
— Billy Sutton (@kbmsutton) January 20, 2020
Guy is amazing. Hustled every night.
— okoren (@phillysports72) January 20, 2020
Monster game!
— Okiedog (@davidmurphy76) January 20, 2020
That's a pretty gutty win for the Sixers. They have now won four in a row.
Ben Simmons: 34 points (12-14 FG, 10-14 FT), 12 assists, 12 rebounds, 5 steals and 2 blocks. His defense with Matisse Thybulle in the second half was unbelievable.— Rich Hofmann (@rich_hofmann) January 20, 2020
Ben Simmons just went off
➖➖➖
34 Points
12 Rebounds
12 Assists
5 Steals
2 Blocks
12/14 FGM
Only missed two shots, Silencing all the hate🔥pic.twitter.com/JdvVcv0woS— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) January 20, 2020
After his historic triple-double, @BenSimmons25 talks about his game and strengths with @GaryPayton_20. #TheBounce pic.twitter.com/lIuGLeS0kx
— Yahoo Sports NBA (@YahooSportsNBA) January 21, 2020
“Just trying to win. I know that Joel’s out so a lot of guys have go to step up,” Simmons said. “I take a lot of responsibility in that, just being a leader.
“Offensively I’ve got to pick it up so I’m glad we got this one.”
Philadelphia coach Brett Brown was gushing in his praise for his compatriot.
“Ben Simmons was ridiculously dominant tonight,” Brown said after the win.
Announced as the Eastern Conference player of the week during the game, Simmons got a good start on winning the next week's award, too.
The 34-point haul was the Aussie's career-best fifth straight game with 20 or more points and his fourth triple-double of the season.
Al Horford added 19 points for the 76ers, who won their fourth consecutive game. Tobias Harris and Josh Richardson each scored 15.
Spencer Dinwiddie scored 22 points for the Nets, who played without Kyrie Irving because of hamstring tightness and lost their fourth straight. Caris LeVert had 16 points and rookie Nicolas Claxton added a career-best 15.
Sixers finish strongly to topple Nets
The Nets led 91-82 on Claxton's follow dunk with 1:41 left in the third, but the Sixers scored the final eight points of the period.
Simmons got the last six, including two free throws after he was flagrantly fouled by Claxton, who fell hard onto the court.
He scored again to open the fourth and give Philadelphia a 92-91 lead, which grew to 97-91 when Raul Neto capped its 15-0 run with a 3-pointer.
Philadelphia's lead grew to 105-96 on a basket by Simmons before the Nets scored eight straight while the 76ers went scoreless for nearly five minutes.
Horford finally ended that drought when Simmons found him for a 3-pointer and a 108-104 edge with 1:22 to play, and Furkan Korkmaz hit another 3 to put them up five with 23 seconds remaining.
The Nets committed 22 turnovers and shot 64.7% on free throws while losing for the 11th time in 13 games.
With agencies