The stats behind a career-high 17 assists from Ben Simmons

Micah Adams

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The stats behind a career-high 17 assists from Ben Simmons image

The best way to silence the critics?

Let your game do the talking.

That's exactly what Ben Simmons did for the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday, dropping a career-high 17 assists in the win over the Detroit Pistons. The best player on the floor from start to finish, Simmons controlled the entire game and surgically picked apart the Pistons from seemingly every angle.

Perhaps the best aspect of his game is the otherworldly passing ability as Simmons ranks among the very best in the world. Given he's never had more assists in an NBA game, there's a case to be made that his one-man show against the Pistons was the best game of his career.

Here are five of the top stats to know from his vintage performance.

42 points assisted

Of the 17 dimes dropped by Simmons on Tuesday, a whopping eight of them went for 3-pointers.

That means the Aussie assisted on 42 of the team's 125 points, the most he's ever assisted on in a single game. Combined with the 16 points that he scored on his own and Simmons accounted for 46% of Philadelphia's offence. 

Here's a breakdown of Philadelphia's points:

  • 42 - assisted by Simmons
  • 16 - scored by Simmons
  • 67 - all others

MORE: Are you ready for Christmas?

94 seconds

That's how long it took Simmons to single-handedly take over the game. Trailing 11-10 following a Derrick Rose floater with just over five minutes left in the opening frame, Simmons racked up assists on four straight possessions to the tune of 11 points.

11 points in 94 seconds.

Simmons takes over in 1st quarter.

It won't quite go down in NBA history like Tracy McGrady's '13 points in 35 seconds' or Reggie Miller's '8 points in 9 seconds', but it's not too shabby either.

7 assists to Tobias Harris

The biggest beneficiary to all of that wizardry passing?

Tobias Harris.

The forward led all scorers with 35 points on 14-21 shooting with seven of his made shots coming directly off passes from Simmons. Entering Tuesday's game, Harris had been averaging just over two made shots per game off of assists from Simmons.

Here's a breakdown of who was on the receiving end of all 17 of the Aussie's assists.

Assisted By Simmons
Scorer Made FG
Tobias Harris 7
Furkan Korkmaz 6
Al Horford 2
Mike Scott 1
James Ennis 1

24 career triple-doubles

This was the second triple-double of the season for Simmons and the 24th of his career, moving him into a tie with Draymond Green and Elgin Baylor for the 16th-most in NBA history.

MORE: Who is next for Simmons on all-time trip-dub list?

This marked the 190th game of his career. The only two players in NBA history with more triple-doubles through that many games are Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson.

1 lucky fan

The Sixers are playing on Christmas Day in the states and there's no better way to ring in the holiday spirit than spreading some holiday cheer.

That's exactly what Simmons did prior to the start of the second half as he took some time to meet with one young fan who went to the game holding up a sign that he simply wanted to meet the All-Star Aussie.

Wish granted.

 

 

Of course, Simmons and the 76ers have a big game on the horizon as they play host to the 27-4 Milwaukee Bucks as part of the NBA quintuple-header on Christmas.

The views expressed here do not represent those of the NBA or its clubs.

Micah Adams

Micah Adams Photo

Micah Adams is a Managing Editor and Head of Affiliate and Commercial Content at Sporting News. Prior to joining SN in 2021, Adams spent over a decade producing and leading content teams at ESPN, DAZN and The Social Institute. Adams graduated from Duke University in 2009 and remains a Cameron Crazie at heart well into his 30s. When not losing sleep or hair over the Blue Devils, Kansas City Chiefs, Chicago Bulls, and USMNT, Adams enjoys chasing his two small children around along with his wife, losing golf balls, spending time outdoors and binging terrible movies.