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The Brooklyn Nets haven't been off to the best of starts in the newest campaign. After splitting their first two games, the Nets were unable to overcome 38-point explosions from the Memphis Grizzlies' backcourt of Ja Morant and Desmond Bane, losing 134-124 in the end, dropping to 1-2 to start the season. One pressing area of concern for Nets, in particular, is Ben Simmons' form, as he clearly has a lot of work left to do before he gets back to his All-Star level.
Simmons' troubles with keeping the referee from blowing the whistle on him has plagued the 6'10 guard since preseason. And on cue, his problem with fouls reared its ugly head once again. Simmons ended up fouling out for the second time in three games after he tried to apply pressure on Morant as he tried to stall the game near the halfcourt line.
And surely enough, Ben Simmons let out his frustrations regarding what he perceived as an extremely soft foul in his postgame interview.
“It wasn’t a foul. He called it a foul, made a mistake. It is what it is. Really frustrating. But all I can do now is support my team from the bench. But f–k yeah it’s frustrating. It’s not a foul. That was bulls–t,” Simmons said, per the New York Post. “It’s frustrating because it’s a late game, it’s fourth quarter, it’s a physical close game. It’s the NBA. This is not college. It’s not high school. Some people are going to get hit, some people will bleed. It’s basketball.”
Perhaps Ben Simmons has a point; he tried to move his feet to keep up with Ja Morant's lightning quick first step, and he appeared to have done a solid job of getting up in Morant's grill. However, the referee saw it as illegal contact, with Simmons nudging Morant out of the space he was deemed to have arrived in first.
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Ben Simmons fouled out on this play…
Do you agree with the call? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/9FkWVqZygv
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 25, 2022
Still, Simmons had enough self-awareness to know that the more he gets into the rhythm and speed of the game after not playing for an entire season, the more he'll be able to contribute in meaningful ways.
“It's been a minute since you've seen me play. It's a different speed, different physicality, so it's just adjusting and getting back to playing basketball and getting comfortable,” Simmons added, per YES Network.
Ben Simmons: I think we showed glimpses on how we should have played. Obviously, we didn't carry that through the whole game, but there were some positives to take out of it. pic.twitter.com/RDbTCSFtBT
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) October 25, 2022
For Ben Simmons' sake, hopefully he gets it together soon, with the fans' vitriol towards him beginning to brew what with the lofty expectations for the Nets for this season.
