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Life with the Philadelphia 76ers has been good so far for first-year head coach Doc Rivers. The Sixers own the best record in the entire Eastern Conference, and this has had to do with the elite level of play of superstar point guard Ben Simmons.
For his part, Rivers has been absolutely impressed with Simmons' ability to defend each position on the opposing team. So much so, that the Sixers shot-caller believes that Simmons has the ability to eat up his opponents on the defensive end — literally (h/t ClutchPoints on Twitter):
“Ben is a lot. He guards every position, and he makes such a difference. It's everywhere. He literally, at times, swallows players.”
Doc Rivers on Ben Simmons’ case for Defensive Player of the Year 🏆 pic.twitter.com/cM1nJ9tie4
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) March 17, 2021
Doc Rivers literally ran out of superlatives to describe Simmons' contributions to the team on defense that he had to resort to a rather head-scratching statement:
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“Ben is a lot,” the Sixers coach said in a recent appearance on ESPN's The Jump. “He guards every position, and he makes such a difference. It's everywhere. He literally, at times, swallows players.”
There's no denying that Simmons is an elite defender. He's actually one of the frontrunners for this season's Defensive Player of the Year award — and for good reason. However, for Rivers to say that the Sixers guard literally swallows players is rather peculiar. Doc probably just got a bit too excited in talking up his star that he misused the term “literally”. This is a common mistake made by every other guy on the planet, but it's still definitely worth a laugh (and a meme, of course) here.
Whether he swallows opponents literally or figuratively, Simmons is a beast on the defensive end. He's been one of the best players on his team this season, and the Sixers would not be where they are right now had it not been for Ben.
