‘The Process’ progressed in Game 6 because Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons stepped up | Marcus Hayes
They won the first elimination game of their careers by playing and acting like professionals and adults. It's the only formula that wins in the NBA. Now, they know.
TORONTO -- No matter what happens in Game 7 here Sunday, everything about Game 6 pushed The Process one giant step forward.
Facing elimination in the Eastern Conference semifinal, Joel Embiid logged a plus-40 in a selfless exhibition of offensive deference and defensive dominance. Ben Simmons played the best all-around game of his two-year career.
“I thought to have that type of performance at home in a close-out game (without) a lot of experience in the playoffs, I thought, was a fantastic sign,” said Brett Brown, the only NBA coach either has ever known.
Facing humiliation -- Embiid was called a wimp, Simmons a coward -- both responded impeccably. Was it shame, or was it pride?
“We talk all the time about not paying attention to the noise,” Brown said. “Did they respond to the noise? I don’t now. I hope -- and I believe it was -- just internal pride and professionalism.”
Simmons said he ignored the critics. Believe that if you like. Both he and Embiid have elephant ears, but not elephant skin; they’re as sensitive as a John Mayer song.
Embiid had an upper respiratory infection (a cold) in Games 4 and 5, and he felt poorly, but his theatrical, agonized behavior in the heart of a playoff run outraged many former and current NBA players, including Shaquille O’Neal and former Sixers star Charles Barkley.
Embiid then played 35 minutes, 33 seconds in Game 6, the most minutes he’s played in the postseason and the most he’s played in a month. Really, the 35 minutes were more grueling that they appear, since he left the game for good with 3:33 to play because since the Sixers held a 19-point lead. He scored 17 points, pulled 12 rebounds and blocked two shots, but his presence was more valuable than his production: his backup, Boban Marjanovic, was minus-15 in his first 5 minutes.
“If I’ve got to play 45 minutes and push myself out there, that’s what I’ve got to do, if that’s what it takes to win,” Embiid said after Game 6. "Doesn’t matter if it takes the whole game. Game 7, we’re going to need it. And I intend to be ready, (even) if I have to play the whole game."
Playing heavy minutes isn’t an issue for Simmons. Playing fearlessly has.
Simmons’ shooting motion is so atrocious that he’s embarrassed to show it. He’s taken just 17 3-point shots in two full seasons. Given the laws of physics, it’s no surprise that he’s never made one. That’s not a huge problem. This is: His reluctance to shoot recently made him scared to shoot free throws. He missed two of three in Game 5 against the Nets, then abandoned the line.
He had four free throw attempts in the first five games against the Raptors. At 6-foot-10 and 230 pounds, his greatest weapon is speed -- speed found in players 6 inches shorter and and 30 pounds lighter. But Simmons, afraid of being fouled, repeatedly refused to use his speed to get to the basket. Alpha teammate Jimmy Butler has repeatedly told Simmons he needs to stay aggressive.
“Every time down the floor -- attack,” Butler said after the Sixers lost Game 4. "Every single time. If coach calls the play and you feel like you got the mismatch, by all means attack. And then if coach says ‘Why’d you do it?’ I promise you I will say ‘I told him to do it’.
“If he has the ball in transition, (I’m like) ‘Ben, don’t pass the ball in transition. Attack every single time’ .”
That’s what happened in Game 6, and that resulted in Simmons taking six free throws. He made three. He averaged 9.1 points in the first five games. He finished 21 points.
It was the biggest game of his career, and he matched the moment.
“Going out there playing hard and not regretting anything,” Simmons said afterward. “It was making a point of actually doing it and not just talking about it. I’m pretty quick so I’m able to push the ball. It was just being aggressive downhill and playing my game.”
It sounds easy. It’s not.
The Sixers understand Simmons’ limitations and they were prepared to trade him this season. After he disappeared in Games 4 and 5, trading Simmons gained momentum with some Sixers fans. For the first time in his 22-year-long life, Simmons found himself unpopular. He didn’t like it, so he cast away all affectations -- he even shed his leggings and his (ironic) shooting sleeve -- and played with abandon.
“Go out there and play. Hoop,” Simmons said. “Get back to being me.”
Embiid did the same. It’s hard to remember that he missed Game 3 of the first-round series against the Nets with knee tendinitis that has dogged him since February and cost him 14 of the team’s last 24 games. He gets the knee heavily taped before each game, but the tendinitis hasn’t been mentioned in a week.
And, in Game 6, Embiid didn’t taunt the opposition when he made a big play.
“I mean, I’m maturing,” Embiid said Thursday night. "I’m starting to figure out the whole league."
In Game 6, both of them figured this out:
The NBA is a business whose objective is winning a championship. In the playoffs, you show up and do your job every single game; sick, hurt, or embarrassed.
Now that the franchise cornerstones have learned that lesson and responded in an elimination game, regardless of the outcome of Game 7, The Process moved a lot closer toward completion in Game 6.