Philadelphia came out ahead with a strong performance from Ben Simmons as they won 120-95. The Philadelphia 76ers and Washington Wizards clashed in game 2 of the NBA playoffs. Surprisingly, none of the Philadelphia players played more than 20 minutes as Simmons played the most with 28:34.
Ben Simmons put on another spectacular on the court display as he shut critics up. Simmons missed a triple-double but finished with 22 points, 9 rebounds 8 assists, and 1 block. After game one, Simmons became the sixth player in NBA history to have 15 rebounds and 15 assists that he had in game 1.
Simmons tied with Joel Embiid for the most points for the 76ers. Tobias Harris finished the game with 19 points.
With the low minutes the 76ers played, this will help them in future playoff games as their legs will not be tired and well-rested. This is a smart move by the coach Doc Rivers.
The Washington Wizards tried their best but came up short. Bradley Beal led the Wizards with 33 points. Russell Westbrook left the game early with an ankle injury.
As Westbrook was leaving the court, a fan poured popcorn on him. Westbrook was mad and had to be held back by security. The fan was removed from the game and restricted from attending future 76ers games. Philadelphia is known to have a tough crowd but throwing popcorn or anything at opposing players is not called for.
''This was classless, unacceptable behavior, and we're not going to tolerate it at Wells Fargo Center,'' Valerie Camillo President of Basketball Operations said.
Here is a clip of the video with Westbrook getting popcorn thrown on him.
Westbrook is not sure if he’ll play in game 3.
''We'll see,'' Westbrook said about his availability for the next game. ''Hurt it twice in a short amount of time. We'll see what happens.''
These are highlights from the 76ers Wizards game.
The bench for the 76ers provided the support the team needed. Matisse Thybulle played 19 minutes but he played hard in those minutes of play. Matisse finished with 5 points, 5 blocks, and 4 steals. Matisse made some records while doing that. He ws the first guard to make 5 blocks and 4 steals in a game. Also, he was the first bench player to do that and the first to reach those numbers in less than 20 minutes of play.
Doc Rivers compared him to the Atlanta Hawks three-time sixth man of the year, Lou Williams. Williams was known for providing offense off the bench while Thybulle does defensively.
"I guess you can say he's our defensive Lou Williams," Rivers said. "Like Lou Williams, and I had Jamal Crawford, both of those guys, offensively when you threw them in, you told them if they pass the ball once you are going to take them out. Their job was to score. Matisse's job is to get stops when he comes in. I haven't had a lot of guys [like that]. Tony Allen, I guess, way back, was very similar because he was coming off the bench for us."
Joel Embiid praised the play of Matisse. "He was great," Embiid said. "I thought he did probably the best job out of everybody on the team, and it was huge. I've been preaching for the whole season whether it's being on the All-Defensive Team or saying that he has a chance to be Defensive Player the Year if he got the minutes needed to accomplish that. So he's been huge all season, and we're gonna need him to do the same."
The 76ers now go on the road and play the Washington Wizards on their home court in Washington, DC on May 29. The Philadelphia 76ers are up 2-0 over the Wizards.