The Nets rolled in with their star players, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, alongside Simmons, and many assumed the depleted Sixers would be blown out, but something unexpected took place instead — they won 115-106.
Minus their best three players, the Sixers didn’t have a chance against their former teammate and the Eastern Conference rival squad. Or so almost everyone thought.
“The toughness is what we needed,” coach Doc Rivers said. “Tonight is a game you saw it like in front of you. Whether they played well or not, our guys were going to compete. You saw that.” Displaying balance and sharpshooting, the Sixers shot 50% on three-pointers. Not bad, considering perennial All-Stars Joel Embiid and James Harden and rising star Tyrese Maxey are currently all sidelined.
“This a Vince Vaughn Earmuffs Night tonight,” he said. “That’s what that is. And it ain’t got nothing to do with the weather either.” Simmons may have endeared himself slightly to fans when he missed a pair of foul shots early in the third quarter, enabling Sixers fans to receive free Chick-fil-A nuggets as part of the “Bricken for Chicken” promotion. If an opponent misses two consecutive foul shots in the second half, fans will get free chicken nuggets. Simmons made three of six foul shots for the game.The Sixers forward fell to the court and remained there for a couple of minutes, clearly in pain.
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