Washington: Australia’s Ben Simmons set himself beyond such NBA immortals as Michael Jordan and LeBron James with a triple double on Monday in only his fourth league contest for the Philadelphia 76ers.
The 21-year-old from Melbourne, last year’s NBA Draft top pick who missed all of last season with a right foot injury, scored 21 points, grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds and passed out a game-high 10 assists for the Sixers in a 97-86 triumph at Detroit.
Simmons became the first NBA player in 50 years to manage a triple double — double-digit game production in three statistical categories — within his first four league starts.
And he’s only the third NBA player to manage the achievement, joining Art “Hambone” Williams of the 1967-68 San Diego Rockets and Oscar Robertson of the 1960 Cincinnati Royals.
Each of those players went on to become an NBA champion, Robertson with Milwaukee in 1971 and Williams with Boston in 1974.
Cameroon big man Joel Embiid scored 30 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the 76ers, who improved to 1-3.
Simmons is averaging 15.7 points, 10.3 rebounds and 6.0 assists through his first four NBA games.
At Miami, Josh Richardson scored 21 points and Wayne Ellington netted 19 of his 20 points in the second quarter to lead the Miami Heat over Atlanta 104-93. Ellington made 6 of 7 3-point shots in the second quarter, tying Brian Shaw for a franchise record, as Miami went to 2-1 while the Hawks fell to 1-3.
Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry, meanwhile, was fined $50,000 (Dh183,650) but has escaped a suspension for hurling his mouthguard at a game official, the NBA said.
Curry was ejected after the flashpoint late in the fourth quarter of the Warriors’ 111-101 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday.
The 29-year-old point guard could be seen tossing his mouthpiece after a disputed call.
Team-mate Andre Iguodala was fined $15,000 for verbally abusing a game official in the same incident. Team-mate Kevin Durant was also ejected after the stormy end to the defeat.
Curry on Monday said he had not been aiming at the official in question when he tossed his mouthpiece.
“I think once he saw the mouthpiece flying, he was already throwing me out,” Curry said before his fine was announced.
“I don’t even know if he knew where it went, let alone where it ended up. I would say I wasn’t trying to hit him with it or put him in danger by any type of stretch of the imagination.
“Again, it was a dumb thing to do. It was stupid. Learn from it and try to move on and be better.
“We were playing terrible, I was frustrated because I was fouling and I thought I got fouled on the last play. The reaction was definitely a little over the top.”
—AFP
