Ben Simmons has never been an incredible scorer, although he did have that one game where he scored 42 points against Rudy Gobert. Simmons has made a name for himself with his terrific defense and his ability to contribute in other facets without having to put the ball into the hoop. However, he has taken his scoring allergy to an entirely different level with the Brooklyn Nets, and he even etched his name into franchise history in doing so.
On Thursday night against the Boston Celtics, the Nets needed someone to step up, scoring-wise, with Kevin Durant out. But Ben Simmons was perfectly content to play his brand of basketball and not force up any shots even with 18.8 of Durant's field-goal attempts freed up. In 26 minutes of action, Simmons went scoreless, going 0-3 from the field, but he added nine boards and 13 dimes.
Following this odd game, Simmons became only the third player alongside Jason Kidd and his current head coach Jacque Vaughn, as the only ones to tally 10-plus dimes without scoring a single point for the Nets in their entire franchise history, per Basketball Reference.
Jason Kidd, the man who led the then-New Jersey Nets to two Finals appearances and is now the coach of the Dallas Mavericks, accomplished the “feat” in 2001 against the Philadelphia 76ers. Kidd and the Nets lost that game, 94-82.
Weirdly enough, Jacque Vaughn also pulled off this scoreless, 10-dime game against the Sixers, this time on April 18, 2006. The Nets also lost that game, 91-88. And now, the Nets also lost another one of those games, with Brooklyn falling to the Celtics, 109-98.
Who knew scoring the ball was important, even for a pass-first point guard like Ben Simmons?
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