Sixers

Bradley Beal Credits “Willing Defender” Ben Simmons

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: May 26th, 2021 · 9:53 AM EDT

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Bradley Beal went for 33 points in the Sixers’ game one win against the Wizards, but he had to work for those points.

We mentioned in Monday’s recap that Beal only shot 1-6 against Ben Simmons and 1-2 against Matisse Thybulle, who were his primary defenders for the majority of the game. When matched on other Sixers, or slipping through pick and rolls, Beal was 11-14 from the floor.

For whatever reason, Simmons only gets credit for his defense from 50% of the Sixers’ fan base, but Beal himself was complimentary when he was asked on Tuesday about the challenge of playing against him:

“He’s 6’10”, I’m 6’3″, so I think that’s pretty simple. He’s a big guy and he plays guard, so it’s not like he’s a center or a power forward guarding me. He’s very mobile, agile, and he’s strong. I think that propels him. And the fact that he wants to play defense, that he’s a willing defender. You don’t always see that. He uses that to his advantage. He’s very strong. That’s what he does.” 

On the surface, it seems ridiculous that a 6’10” guy can even stay in front of a 6’3″ player. Normally a small guard is going to blow by a big with relative ease, but Ben really did a nice job getting out on the perimeter and engaging.

Thiago at The Painted Lines pointed this out on Twitter, that one of the things the Sixers did well in game one was make Beal work to get open. There were a number of instances where he had to start possessions in these areas:

There was some hedging, too, on pick and roll plays.

A couple of those instances pushed Beal further off the line, like this:

And there was another sequence later with Joel Embiid stepping out beyond the line in more aggressive pick and roll coverage:

This play lead to a turnover, and Ben Simmons talked about the more aggressive second-half approach:

“I think it was a sense of urgency in terms of, you know when he comes off the pick and roll he has to see some bodies. You can’t have it easy, and I think Jo did a good job of smothering him in terms of putting his hands up and making it tough for him.”

This is pretty much the game plan. Bradley Beal is going to get his points, but if you can keep him from going absolutely crazy, then nobody else on this Wizards team is going to beat you. Russell Westbrook does not score with efficiency and there aren’t many offensive threats on that squad beyond those two.

Game two, tonight.