Ben Simmons’ utter refusal to shoot late in Game 7 of his Philadelphia 76ers’ 103-96 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday night bothered his teammates pretty badly.
Joel Embiid wasn’t trying to call out Simmons, but he couldn’t help but do so after the loss. The Sixers big man said the game turned when Simmons refused to shoot an open layup down 88-86 and 3:30 to go in their game.
Here is the play:
In 43 combined fourth-quarter minutes from Games 2 through 7 in this series, Ben Simmons has taken ONE shot.
This would have made two.
— Pickswise (@Pickswise) June 21, 2021
Instead, Matisse Thybulle was fouled and made 1-of-2 free throws. The Hawks responded with an easy basket, and then Embiid missed a shot. Then Trae Young hit a three-pointer to make it 93-87.
After the game, Embiid said he felt the game turned on that play.
Ben Simmons smh RT @SportsCenter: "I don't know how to say it – but I thought the turning point was we had an open shot, we missed and we made one free throw."
—Joel Embiid on the Sixers' Game 7 loss vs. the Hawks pic.twitter.com/3wdmfwq9pt
— Dain (@TheGreatestDain) June 21, 2021
Simmons had such a wide open shot that it has to be beyond frustrating for his teammates not to see the former No. 1 pick take advantage of it. Embiid probably feels similarly to Doc Rivers.
