Ben Simmons poked the Bosnian Bear. The Philadelphia 76ers star, then, is lucky to have come away from his encounter with Portland Trail Blazers big man Jusuf Nurkic with scars inflicted solely from social media.
In the third quarter of his team's matinee against the Blazers on Saturday, Simmons — after missing a free throw — went at Nurkic for his supposedly incessant chirping. “You talk a lot of s*** for being ass,” he said, walking toward Nurkic as players and referees prepared for another free-throw attempt.
Nothing came of the incident on the floor, despite Portland hardly holding back joy in embarrassing the Sixers to the tune of a 130-115 victory in front of a partisan crowd.
After the game, though, Nurkic bit back at his Sixers counterpart on Instagram.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BuPXxC6HIG7/
Shade.
Simmons' critique of Nurkic's game doesn't exactly hold water. The Blazers' center is enjoying a career campaign in 2018-19, averaging career-highs across the board of 15.2 points, 10.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.5 blocks per game. Nurkic even made history last month by dropping the first ever five-by-five game that saw him score at least 20 points and grab 20 rebounds.
Nurkic was also the driving force behind Portland's victory on Saturday, with 24 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, taking full advantage of the absence of Joel Embiid who nursing a sore left knee. Simmons certainly stepped up in his superstar teammate's absence, finishing with 29 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists in a losing effort.
The win moves the quietly-rolling Blazers to 36-23, two and-a-half games ahead of the Houston Rockets for fourth in the Western Conference.
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