With time running out in the first half of Tuesday night’s exhibition game against the Guangzhou Loong-Lions of the Chinese Basketball Association, Ben Simmons pulled up and swished his first career three-pointer, which triggered a near (happy) riot among Sixers fans and his Philadelphia teammates.
Simmons, 23, told reporters he had no choice but to launch from beyond the arc.
The 2018 NBA Rookie of the Year spent the offseason working on his shooting, and says “it’s paying off.”
Per The Philly Inquirer:
“The time went down,” Simmons said. “I had the ball. So I had to take a shot.”
For his career, Simmons is 0-for-17 on three-pointers in the regular season. He had been 0-for-1 in the preseason for his career.
“I work every day,” he said of his shooting. “So to me, it like shows. I’m in the gym every day, putting in work. I feel like it’s paying off.”
Coach Brett Brown didn’t really have a reaction to the milestone.
“I think the whole thing is overblown,” he said of the attention given to Simmons’ shot. “In general, it is so inflated, the attention. … He is young. We have a long season. I am just not going to react over it. He made a three.”
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