Ben Simmons has hit out over a series of “bulls–t” calls that resulted in him being fouled out of a game for the second time in three appearances this season.
After picking up six fouls in the Brooklyn Nets’ season-opening loss last week, Simmons again accrued another six in just 28 minutes of action as the Nets fell to a 134-124 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.
Simmons’ night came to an end on a bizarre play in the fourth quarter where he allowed Grizzlies guard Ja Morant to let the ball roll over the half-court line before fouling Morant as the Memphis star looked over to his coach.
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The Melbourne native called out referee J.T. Orr after the match, claiming that he’d “missed” the call that had prematurely ended his night.
Incredibly, Morant revealed after the game that he’d goaded Simmons into the foul by memorising a similar play from his rookie season in 2019 where Simmons had stolen the ball from him.
“It was in Philly (in) my rookie year. It was the same situation versus Ben and I went to look at coach to get the play and he ran through, got the steal and the dunk,” he said.
“I knew it at that moment once I seen him, I was rolling the ball, I looked at coach and I see him trying to look (to steal), so I knew I had him. He was going to press up and I was just going to force the referee to make the call.”
The foul trouble capped off another night to forget for Simmons, who finished with seven points, three rebounds, eight assists and five turnovers, with the Nets outscored by 16 in his minutes. Simmons almost has more fouls than points through the first three games of the season.
Nets coach Steve Nash once again blamed “rust” for the Aussie’s struggles as he preached patience.
“I just don’t think he’s played a lot of basketball,” he told reporters after the game.
“He’s just trying to get his game back, the confidence, and the familiarity. It’s been 18 months basically, so it’s a long period of inactivity, and for anyone who’s played the game that’s very difficult.
“For Ben, I think we need to have some patience with him. We’re going to push him, we’re going to support him, we’re going to challenge him.
“You can’t replicate the game, so when you don’t play in an NBA game for however long it was, it does take time to get a feel for it again. Unfortunately that’s going to have some painful moments for him, but at the same time, it shows he’s got a lot of growth to do, and he’s already showed a lot of glimpses.
“He’s going to get there, it’s just a matter of getting the support and hopefully getting there as quick as possible.”
Simmons attempted just five shots against the Grizzlies, one of which was an end-of-quarter heave at the buzzer.
Despite averaging 11.5 field goal attempts per game throughout his career, Simmons has not shot more than five times in any of his first three games this season, and Nash admitted he needed to be more aggressive.
“It’s the (lack of) confidence, not only physically but with the rhythm of the game to go to the basket,” he said.
“You can see him trying at times and that’s great, we want to keep pushing him to try and break through and force the issue a little bit at times, even if he makes mistakes, just so we can see him be aggressive and start to find a rhythm.”
Simmons and the 1-2 Nets will be in action next on Thursday morning AEDT, when they face Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks.
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