PHILADELPHIA - After a playoff exit on Sunday after a 76ers in which he was historically ineligible from the free throw line and struggled to score in the second round, Ben Simmons was to blame.
"I'm not shooting well from this series," Simmons said after the Sixers' 103-96 Game 7 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. "Aggressively, I wasn't there. I didn't do enough for my teammates. ... There are so many things I need to work on."
The three-time All-Star was putting it mildly.
He scored 15-for-45 (33%) on foul shots against Atlanta and 34.2% overall off the line for the 2021 playoffs, accounting for the worst free throw percentage in NBA playoff history for a player with at least 70 attempts. did. Research by ESPN Stats & Information.
The Hawks restricted them to less than 10 points in four of seven matches in the conference semi-finals, including their five-point performance on Sunday.
He was particularly unreliable at the end of the game, failing to attempt a single shot in the fourth quarter in five of seven games, leading many to believe the act of missing his confidence at the free throw line. came directly in relation to the lack of.
After a series that would be remembered by Philadelphia fans as a blown opportunity - the Sixers took a 2–1 series lead after failing to defend an 18-point cushion in Game 4 and a 26-point advantage in Game 5. lost and then lost Game 7 at the Wells Fargo Center, where the team had held the best home record in the league over the past two seasons - with Joel Embiid stating that he believed Simmons hit the bottom of the basket in the fourth. Down was opposed to taking an open opportunity. Sunday's quarter was the turning point in losses.
"Man, I'll be honest. I thought the turning point was, you know, when we, I don't know how to say it, but I thought the turning point was just we had an open shot and we made a free throw and We missed second and they came down and scored," Embiid said.
The sequence he was referring to came up with 3:29 remaining, when Simmons posted Danilo Gallinari, knocking him out with a spin move to go to the basket and instead of going for a score himself. , passed the ball to Matisse Thybulle, who was fouled. In an effort to hit six, the Sixers down 88-86.
Thybulle went 1-for-2, and the Hawks dropped 2:31 at a fast 5-0 pace to lead 93-87.
"I just assumed Gallo was coming on my back," Simmons explained. "And then [John] Collins [Lane's] walked out, so I thought we just had a wide open dunk."
Simmons, who will turn 25 next month and is owed $140.4 million over the next four seasons, admitted there is a mental barrier he has to overcome.
"The first thing I'm going to do is clear my mind and have my mental right," he said. "You have to be tough mentally. You can't take games lightly. Especially in the playoffs. Every game counts. Every right counts."
Sixers coach Doc Rivers was asked a question postgame about what Philadelphia stands as a franchise after a fourth straight season with Simmons failing to make it to the second round as a foundational piece: Did the 76ers Who can expect to win a championship with them as their point keeper?
"I don't know the question or the answer to that yet," Rivers said. "So I don't know the answer."
While outwardly gloomy about the outcome of the series, Simmons defended himself when a reporter suggested that his all-star influence of the regular season shrank in the post-season spotlight.
"How many assistants did I have?" He asked, referring to his 13 dimes.
"What did Trae [Young] shoot?" He asked to draw attention to the Hawks star's 5-for-23 shooting night, many of whom would be accompanying Simmons.
"I'm not going to tell you that," he said of the characterization of his postseason struggles. "We lost, it sucks. I'm what I am. It's what it is. Winning isn't easy. And it shows. The Nets finished by the Bucks. It's not easy to win. And I work."
Rivers also stood up for Simmons, attributing Young's struggles to Simmons' presence.
"That's what Ben did. And so, that was a positive for Ben," Rivers said. "Even though people might be angry with him. But defensively, he worked his way up on Trai tonight."
But Embiid, after saying it "looked like this was going to be our year," won't commit to running it next year with the same core.