Simmons falls in Philadelphia, and “Lillard 60” defeats Utah

Los Angeles (AFP)
The Philadelphia Seventy Sixers continued their revival, when they beat their guest Brooklyn Nets and their former Australian star Ben Simmons 137-133 in the NBA, while Damian Lillard scored 60 points for his Portland Trail Blazers team in the basket of his guest Utah Jazz, who settled the confrontation in his favor 134- 124.
In the first match, the second return of Ben Simmons to his former home was unsuccessful, and he returned with a new defeat after the first last year 106-115, which came after nine months since the exchange deal, according to which he moved to the Nets last February.
Simmons again faced a hostile reception from the Sixers crowd, as was his first match against former Cameroonian teammate Joel Embiid, who was one of the reasons he left the Sixers due to the strained relationship between them.
The match witnessed a great rivalry between the two teams from the start, and its first quarter ended in an exciting tie 41-41, before the Sixers imposed their advantage in the second, by 10 points, 34-24.
The competition intensified again in the third quarter, which the Nets decided by only one point, 33-32, then tried to remedy the situation in the last quarter (35-30), to no avail.
Substitute Therese Maksay was the best scorer among the Sixers with 27 points, Embiid added 26 with 10 rebounds, and James Harden 23 with seven assists.
On the other hand, another substitute, Seth Curry, brother of the defending champion Golden State Warriors star Stephen, appeared in the Nets ranks, who continued to play in the absence of his injured star Kevin Wrant, by scoring 32 points, and Kyrie Irving added 30 points with 10 assists, while Simmons scored 12. point only.
It is the sixth successive victory for Philadelphia and the 31st in 47 games so far this season, so it strengthened its position in second place in the eastern region, while the Nets suffered its eighteenth loss in 47 games, and fell to fourth place behind the Milwaukee Bucks, the winner of the guest Denver Nuggets, leaders of the western region 107-99 Thanks to 33 points and 14 rebounds to his Greek star, Yannis Antitokounmpo.
And Damian Lillard imposed himself as a star in the match between his team, the Portland Trail Blazers, and its guest, Utah Jazz, by scoring 60 points, for the fourth time in his professional career.
Lillard, who scored nine hat-tricks, commented on his achievement, saying: “Even when things were not going well, I always felt that I could bring the team back into the match,” adding: “When you get into this kind of feeling, you feel that you can control the outcome.”
His coach, Chauncey Billups, also praised him, saying: “It was amazing. You can’t see that much.’
Lillard is one of only six players in NBA history to score 60 points more than once. Wilt Chamberlain holds the record 32 times, while the late Kobe Bryant achieved it six times. The other players on the list are Michael Jordan (5), Elgin Baylor (4), and Harden (4).