Philadelphia 76ers Player of the Week: Ben Simmons stepped up

The Philadelphia 76ers should be happy with point guard Ben Simmons as he put together consistently dominant performances throughout this past week.

After a dominant three week run, Joel Embiid has been dethroned as the Philadelphia 76ers player of the week. However, Ben Simmons had strung together a week’s worth of strong outings. The consistency that Simmons’ played with throughout the week has earned him this award.

Simmons strong play this past week started with his second worst outing in the Sixers loss to the Brooklyn Nets. The playmaker ended the game with 20 points, 12 rebounds, three assists, four steals and five turnovers, while making 8-11 field goal attempts and 4-9 on free throw attempts. The fact that Simmons had more turnovers than assists was a concern coming out of this game. However, his solid shooting and great defense effort more than made up for his poor ball control.

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He bounced back in the 76ers first road win over the Indiana Pacers. Simmons had 16 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, two blocks and one turnover, while shooting 7-12 from the floor and 2-4 from the foul line. The near triple-double that Simmons was close to achieving was an impressive feat to be sure.

Philadelphia’s overtime win against the Charlotte Hornets was easily Simmons’ best performance of this past week. He ended the contest with 22 points, eight rebounds, 13 assists, two steals, three blocks and three turnovers, while going 9-15 from the field and 4-6 from the charity stripe. For the second straight game, Simmons flirted with a triple-double and this was his lone double-double that was made out of points and assists from this past week.

The Sixers were short handed in the overtime loss to the Memphis Grizzlies due to the Jimmy Butler trade. Simmons still came out and produced another strong performance for the club, even with the shorted handed roster and that this game was the second game of a back-to-back.

The point guard finished the game with 18 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, one block and six turnovers, while converting 9-15 shots from the floor. This was the second time in the week that Simmons had more turnovers than assists during a game.

Honorable Mention

Embiid had a quiet week by his standards, but his 42 point game performance against the Hornets has earned him a honorable mention. For the week he averaged 23.0 points, 14.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 2.3 blocks, 0.5 steals and 4.8 turnovers. Outside of Embiid’s monster offensive game against the Hornets, he has struggled to put big numbers up consistently and has turned the ball over at a high rate this past week.

Next. PLAYER GRADES: Memphis Grizzlies 112, Philadelphia 76ers 106. dark

For the week, Simmons averaged 19.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, 7.3 assists, 1.5 blocks, 1.5 steals and 3.8 turnovers for the Philadelphia 76ers. The point guard’s high field goal percentage and high scoring volume gained him the honor of the player of the week award. The only thing Simmons needs to work on, besides an outside shot, is his turnover problems. If he can cut those down, he may win several more of these awards.