When the Philadelphia 76ers acquired James Harden in a blockbuster trade with the Brooklyn Nets and said good riddance to an irritated Ben Simmons last month, Mar. 10 was the very first date circled on the calendar. It marked the first contest between the new-look division rivals, and most importantly, the opportunity for Sixers fans to once again bash Simmons in Philadelphia.
As expected, the 25-year-old guard received a raucous chorus of boos from the sold-out crowd inside Wells Fargo Center on Thursday. But Simmons got the last laugh once the final buzzer sounded, as the Nets beat up the Sixers, 129-100, silencing the hometown fans in a playoff atmosphere. And to make matters worse for Philadelphia, Harden scored 11 points on 3 of 17 shooting.
"What that was, was ugly. That was a no-show, a whitewash, a full butt-kicking that happened to the Sixers," Maggie Gray said during the Maggie and Perloff show on Friday. "Of all the people who'd come out as bigger winners, I didn't have Simmons even in my top-10... I mean, it didn't take until midway through the third quarter before the fans were booing their own team and had already forgotten all about Simmons..."
"They let Simmons walk back in the house wearing a Louis Vuitton sweatshirt and own them," Perloff said. "Even though he didn't play, somehow Simmons owned the Sixers. How did Ben Simmons come out of this looking good, and he didn't even suit up?... Harden's the A-Rod of the NBA. Gets huge numbers in meaningless games against bad teams. When the pressure is on, or when someone's really focusing, a good team, he never shows up in this situation."
Maggie and Perloff's complete thoughts on the Sixers' loss can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow the Maggie and Perloff Show on Twitter @MaggieandPerl and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.