The message from the Brooklyn Nets had always been simple — just give Ben Simmons time.
It had not always been that simple though, with Kyrie Irving suspended and Brooklyn desperately in need of the Simmons of old to emerge.
But with Irving back in the line-up on Monday Simmons put on a show in his best performance as a Net, scoring 22 points in a 127-115 win over the Memphis Grizzlies.
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“In Philly? Come on, I know what’s coming,” he laughed when asked if enough time had passed for Sixers fans to be less vocal about their feelings at that game.
“One thing about Philly fans are incredible. They’re diehard Philly.”
But if Simmons plays like he does on Monday, he will almost certainly have the last laugh.
The Nets outscored the Grizzlies 39-31 in the third quarter — their highest scoring of the season — to take a 96-93 lead going into the fourth.
Brooklyn led 94-93 with 34.9 seconds left in the third and reeled off a 20-5 run that spanned the periods and put the game away.
Simmons pushed the ball and hit Yuta Watanabe (16 points) for a right-corner 3 and a 109-98 lead with 7:51 left. Watanabe hit another, and Durant’s alley oop made it 114-98. The rest was garbage time.
— with New York Post
