*It was the slam dunk that never was.
En route to the Philadelphia 76ers being eliminated from the NBA playoffs Sunday night by the Atlanta Hawks, star Ben Simmons had a wide open dunk, but chose to dish the ball instead to Matisse Thybulle, who missed his shot, but was fouled.The video of his ill-fated decision, and reaction from teammate Joel Embiid, has gone viral.
Ben Simmons did not just pass this up… pic.twitter.com/4JyM7ZHNkJ
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 21, 2021
here is Joel Embiid’s reaction when Ben Simmons passed up the wide open dunk pic.twitter.com/lrfdYiYpkv
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) June 21, 2021
After the game, both Simmons and his coach, Doc Rivers, were asked about the huge missed opportunity.
On “Inside the NBA” after the game, Charles Barkley went off, saying Philly has been talking about Simmons throwing away shots for years. “I live in Philadelphia. We’ve been talking for the last three years about this dude not shooting the ball. Don’t act like we haven’t been talking about it” for just the past three months.
Without saying it outright, Embiid blamed Simmons for the Game 7 loss. “I don’t know how to say it, but I thought the turning point was just, we had an open shot…”
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith Monday morning called on the 76ers to trade him. Stat.
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