The roars picked up moments after Ben Simmons emerged from the tunnel, the good vibes from pregame warmups—where Simmons signed autographs, posed for pictures, even heard “F--- all these fans, Joel is scared!” from one supporter—buried under an avalanche of boos. They booed when Simmons was introduced and each time he touched the ball. They erupted when he missed a free throw. They wore Mister Softee T-shirts with Simmons’s likeness and taped expletives onto his jerseys. No Joel Embiid, no James Harden, no problem for the more than 20,000 Sixers fans who crammed into Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday night. They didn’t come to see one team win as much as to see one player lose.
And he did. Philadelphia—down Tyrese Maxey, too—thumped Brooklyn 115–106 on Tuesday. Tobias Harris scored 24 points. De’Anthony Melton added 22. The Sixers connected on 50% of their three-pointers and outrebounded the Nets 49–35, including 20–4 on the offensive glass. Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said Brooklyn made so many mistakes in the first two quarters they barely had enough time to show them all on film at halftime.
“Baffling,” Vaughn said.
