Before Thursday’s game, coach Jacque Vaughn said he was not going to ask Ben Simmons to score any more with Kevin Durant sidelined.
Simmons then did just about everything except score in the Nets’ 109-98 loss to the Celtics at Barclays Center.
In 26 minutes, Simmons dished out a season-high 13 assists and brought down nine rebounds with two steals and one block, but he committed five fouls, turned the ball over twice in the second half and went 0-for-3 from the field.
“Just pushing the ball, finding my guys, probably found them too much,” Simmons said. “Probably need to get my own and get myself going, which I didn’t.”
It marked Simmons’ second scoreless outing of the season, but the first came in a Nov. 28 game when he played 11 minutes against the Magic before leaving with an injury.
On Thursday, Simmons admitted he needed to be more aggressive as the Nets played their first game without Durant (MCL sprain), who is averaging 29.7 points per game.
Ben Simmons, who had 13 assists, makes a pass during the Nets’ 109-98 loss to the Celtics. Corey Sipkin
“I think I’m giving the ball up way too many times when I know who I am, I know I need to get to the rim and get buckets,” Simmons said. “And that’s also going to help my teammates and get them going.”
Simmons entered the night averaging only 7.7 points on six field-goal attempts per game this season. He made his impact felt in pushing the ball in transition, where a handful of his assists came, and defending Jayson Tatum, who was limited to 20 points on 7-for-22 shooting.
But he was missing altogether in the scoring column.
“Love the contributions with the assists piece of it,” Vaughn said. “Continue to challenge him, continue to challenge the group to hit first.”
Vaughn tabbed Joe Harris to start in Durant’s place and the wing delivered a season-high 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting, including 10 points in the first quarter alone.
Vaughn indicated Harris was the choice to join the starting lineup because the Nets want to shoot more 3-pointers in Durant’s absence. Harris shot 4-for-7 from deep.
T.J. Warren was the first man off the bench, subbing in for Harris, and scored 20 points.
Royce O’Neale took a shot to the back fighting off a screen from Marcus Smart in the fourth quarter, but Vaughn said he was OK.
The Nets opened a roster spot on Thursday by requesting release waivers on rookie two-way point guard Alondes Williams.
Vaughn said he expected the team to remain flexible with the open roster spot for now instead of immediately filling it.
Nic Claxton came into the day listed as questionable for the game because of left shoulder impingement, but he remained in the starting lineup and recorded nine points, nine rebounds and four blocks. … The NBA released its second update on All-Star fan voting Thursday, with Durant still leading the Eastern Conference frontcourt and Kyrie Irving still leading the guards.
