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On Thursday night, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Brooklyn Nets will meet for the fourth and final time during the regular season. The last time the Sixers and the Nets met in Brooklyn, James Harden was a Philly Rival and Ben Simmons was doing the bare minimum for the Sixers as he desired a trade.
When the two teams meet once again in South Philly on Thursday, Harden will don Sixers threads while Ben Simmons will be with his new teammates on the other end. Although he mentioned he hoped to play in Thursday’s game, Simmons has yet to take the court for the Nets on game night.
As the three-time All-Star was ramping up his conditioning to get back out on the floor following the trade, they suffered a setback. Now, Simmons is week-to-week and isn’t expected to play against his former team on Thursday.
Many expected Simmons to be absent for the Matchup, but it seems they won’t be out of sight entirely. Earlier this week, it was reported that Simmons intended to join his Nets teammates on the bench on Thursday night. That would mark the first time Simmons will make a public appearance in a packed Wells Fargo Center since last year’s Game 7 loss in the Playoffs against the Atlanta Hawks.
Simmons Knows What to Expect
On Tuesday, Brooklyn’s head Coach Steve Nash mentioned he believes it will be good for Simmons to finally face the hostile Philly crowd. To no surprise, Simmons is well-aware of the reception they’ll get from the fan base who grew disgruntled with him after they found out he wanted a trade this past summer.
It won’t be easy for Simmons to tune out the crowd on Thursday, as fans have been waiting for his return for quite some time now.
But considering the Nets and the Sixers are division rivals and could meet in the Playoffs later on down the line, it’s best for the three-time All-Star to hear the heckling now and get it all out of the way before the two teams meet again in the future when Simmons is back in uniform and competing.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.
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