Ben Simmons Drains First Career 3-Pointer And The Crowd Goes Wild

PHILADELPHIA, PA — He's the former Rookie of the Year, an All-Star, and one of the most athletic big men in the game, but critics around the NBA have not stopped talking about Ben Simmons' one glaring weakness ever since he emerged as a star in Philadelphia: long range shooting.

So much so, that the fact that Simmons had never made a single three-pointer in his entire NBA career heading into Wednesday night's game against the Knicks (he was 0 for 17) had become something of a cult reference. In the very least, it's a snide aside tossed around by Boston fans or other arch rivals grasping for some hint of fallibility in the Sixers imposing roster.

No longer.

Just a few minutes into the first quarter, Furkan Korkmaz brought the ball up to the point and fired a one-handed bounce pass to Simmons, who was posted up in the corner.

Simmons caught the ball, posted up comfortably as an opponent came towards him with a hand up, and sent the ball swooshing clean through the hoop.

And the crowd went wild:

Ben Simmons was a career 0-17 from three before this one ... Now he's on the board pic.twitter.com/Ot30TEcyNi
— ESPN (@espn) November" class="redactor-linkify-object">https://twitter.com/espn/statu... 21, 2019

Much has been made of Simmons' outside shooting ability, despite the fact that he continues to average nearly a triple-double every night. More reasoned critics focus on the Sixers size — their starting five includes three players who could realistically play center — and their need for more spacing in the paint, where their biggest men, Joel Embiid and Al Horford, do their best work. As recently as earlier this week, Embiid told USA Today of Simmons, "We are going to need to him to shoot."

Just days later came a moment that was quickly overlaid with the music from "Titanic," as all momentous sports moments are, nowadays:

Simmons worked hard on his jumper in the offseason, with many speculating that this could finally be the season where he took the big step forward. Making his first career three is only symbolic, of course, but it's hopefully of sign of even more to come from one of the league's most talented stars.

The last time Simmons made a three pointer in a game was four years ago as a player at Louisiana State University.

The Sixers defeated the Knicks, 109-104, to improve to 9-5 on the year.