Ben Simmons fouled out late in the fourth quarter of the Nets' loss in Memphis Monday night, the second time he has fouled out in the first three games of the season.
And this time, he's not putting the onus on himself.
"I mean, some of it tonight was a little bit of just bulls--t calls, but refs make mistakes too," Simmons said after the game.
He had a little backup from Kevin Durant, too.
"Yeah, I think a few of those were questionable, but that's just how it is, and I'm sure they called a few questionable ones on them as well," KD said. "It just evens out at some point. I didn't think that last one he got was a foul, but it is what it is. Ben's a veteran in this league, so he trusts himself, we trust him, it's about just bouncing back next game."
Still, through three games, Simmons has almost as many fouls (14) as points (17), and while he is finding other ways to contribute on the stat sheet, he has also attempted only 13 field goals over 84 minutes.
"I think just rust. I just don't think he's played a lot of basketball, so he's just trying to get his game back, his confidence and the familiarity," said head coach Steve Nash. "It's been 18 months, basically, so that's a long period of inactivity. For anyone who's played the game, that's very difficult."
"I mean, it's been a minute since you've seen me play," Simmons added. "So it's a different speed, different physicality. So it's just adjusting, getting back to playing basketball and getting comfortable. It's a whole new team and whole play style, so just getting used to that, finding my guys and putting myself in position to help this team."
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