Philadelphia 76ers star Ben Simmons gets roasted by Anthony Mackie over his abysmal shooting in the Playoffs at 2021 ESPYs
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The Sixers had a tragic end to a wonderful season. After a few major shake-ups in their organization, the Sixers started the 2020-21 season with a new President and a new Head Coach. Doc Rivers took the reigns and led the Sixers to the top spot in the East. Despite Joel Embiid missing out quite a few games due to injury, the Sixers looked pretty well-knit in the regular season.
However, come playoffs, the things turned on their head. Even though the Sixers beat the Wizards in 5 games to take round 1, something did not feel right. Ben Simmons, the second star on the Sixers team, was not performing up to his level. His free throw woes were secret to none, and soon he stopped taking shots all because of the fear of getting to the line. This cost the Sixers the series against the Hawks, as with Simmons not shooting, the floor spacing gets messed up.
Anthony Mackie shows no mercy to Ben Simmons
The 2021 ESPYs were hosted by a fan favorite Falcon, Anthony Mackie. Mackie had a gala time hosting the event, as he kept it light, as well as talked about the series issues as well. Anthony Mackie also showed no mercy to players throughout the show.
Mackie made fun of Trae Young’s hair, and he also talked in-depth about Ben Simmons. He mocked Simmons for his historically bad shooting in the 2021 Playoffs.
ESPY’s taking shots at Ben Simmons
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) July 11, 2021
If you arent familiar with Ben Simmons and his woes from the free-throw line, this one statistic should help. Even Charles Barkley, who is usually very rarely right on his infamous ‘guarantee’, had more accuracy than Ben Simmons from the FT line.
Charles Barkley, famous for his inaccurate “guarantees”, was more accurate on his guarantees (40.0%) than Ben Simmons was on free throws this playoffs (34.2%).
— StatMuse (@statmuse) July 4, 2021
Ben Simmons would like to take note of all the noise. He would work on his game and come back stronger next season.