Ben Simmons recorded his first triple-double for the Brooklyn Nets despite the team falling to the San Antonio Spurs on the road on Wednesday 106-98 (all times AEDT).
Simmons finished with an extremely well-rounded line with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists to go with four steals and two blocks in 34 minutes – one of three Nets players to finish with a positive plus-minus – shooting 4-of-10 from the field and 2-of-2 from the free throw lime.
It also marked the Aussie’s first triple-double since the 2nd of June 2021 while a member of the Philadelphia 76ers and moved him into equal 12th all-time in NBA history.
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Wed, 18 Jan
Wednesday January 18th
The Nets played without both Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving — although it was a short stint without Simmons that did them in as they lost to the woebegone Spurs before a crowd of 13,532 at AT&T Center.
Keldon Johnson, who poured in a game-high 36 points, lit up the Nets (27-16), who are 0-3 since Durant went down with a sprained right MCL on Jan. 8. Irving was ruled out shortly before tip-off with a sore right calf.
That left Simmons as the last man standing from their All-Star Big 3. A third-quarter dry spell during which Simmons was on the bench with foul trouble proved too much to handle.
TJ Warren scored 19 points off the bench to lead the Nets. Seth Curry started in place of Irving and scored a modest 16 points, with Nic Claxton and Cam Thomas each a point behind.
But when Simmons picked up his fourth foul with the score knotted at 58-all with 7:47 left in the third, the Spurs promptly went on a 6-0 run.
He did not return for the rest of the period as the run reached 18-10. The Nets trailed 76-68 entering the fourth quarter, and they never got closer than four the rest of the night.
That against sorry San Antonio (14-31), which has put up as much defensive resistance this season as wet tissue — one-ply. It was a horrible way to tip off a five-game road swing as could be imagined.
While Durant isn’t expected to even be re-evaluated until early next week, the Nets expect to have Irving back for their game Friday at Phoenix.
“He just reported a little tightness. So essentially just day-to-day. We’ll get some treatment, check on it (Thursday) and hopefully this is short term,” Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said of Irving, who did not have an MRI exam and should be ready to face the Suns. “Yeah, I hope so. That’s definitely the hope, that after a day, get some treatment, hopefully be ready to go against Phoenix, yeah.”
After the Nets got on the board first on a Simmons hook, they allowed 10 unanswered points, capped by a Jeremy Cochan three-point play. They trailed 27-15 after a wretched first quarter.
The Nets faced four different 14-point deficits, the last one after a running layup by Tre Jones made it 31-17 Spurs with 9:56 left in the half.
The Nets then temporarily settled in and finally got their offense in gear against one of the league’s worst defensive teams. They reeled off 10 unanswered points led by their bench, the mid-range game of Warren and tempo of Edmond Sumner. Warren capped the spurt with a 16-foot pull-up off a Simmons assist, pulling the Nets within 31-27.
The deficit was still 42-38 after a Jeremy Sochan free throw. He had been fouled by Markieff Morris, from whom he had to be separated moments earlier. But the Nets mounted an 11-2 run to surge ahead.
Thomas’ driving finger roll put them up 49-44 with 2:55 left in the half, and the score was tied 51-51 heading into the locker room.
It was still tied, at 58-58, when Simmons went to the bench with his fourth foul. That’s when the Spurs scored six unanswered points and the Nets never got closer than 82-78, on a Curry 3-pointer, the rest of the evening.
– This article was first published in The New York Post and reproduced with permission
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