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Anfernee Simons makes 16 of 27 threes in three games, the first 76ers reserve with five or more in three straight, after a 5-for-21 start
Anfernee Simons made five threes at Charlotte, five against the Knicks and six at Indiana, all off the bench and all in wins, a first in 76ers history, after starting the season 5-for-21 from three.
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A week ago, Anfernee Simons was 5-for-21 from three and talking about extra shooting sessions. Three games later, he has made 16 of his last 27, and no one in Philadelphia 76ers history had ever done what he just did off the bench.
Simons made five threes in Saturday’s 109-104 win at Charlotte, after five against the Knicks on Friday and six at Indiana on Wednesday. The team’s stats account says he is the first 76ers player to make at least five threes as a reserve in three straight games, a mark confirmed by the Elias Sports Bureau. Reporter Kris Rhim noted he is the first bench player in the league to do it since Malik Beasley in 2024.
Over the three games, all wins, Simons is averaging 20.0 points on 20-of-34 shooting (58.8%), 16-of-27 from three (59.3%) and 4-of-4 at the line, in 27.7 minutes a night.
Simons’ 19 points and five threes at Charlotte, posted by Bench Highlights on X.
The slow start
Simons, 27, signed with Philadelphia as a free agent this summer after splitting last season between Boston and Chicago. A hamstring injury kept him out of much of training camp and all four preseason games.
He made three threes and scored 13 in the opener at Madison Square Garden, then went cold: 3-of-21 from the field and 2-of-13 from three over his next three games, with 11 points combined. After Philadelphia’s loss to Detroit on Oct. 25, Nick Nurse stuck up for him.
“It’s hard to not play in training camp and in any preseason games, and then you get into that incredibly intense part of it, and it [can] take a toll,” Nurse said. “But I really like him. I think he’s going to be an explosive scorer for us, and we’ll get there with him for sure.”
Simons said after practice on Oct. 27 that he had a fix for slumps: “Usually, if I’m struggling for a couple games, I might just want to go on the court, see the ball go through the hoop a whole bunch of times. So I might get a whole bunch of reps in or just do 30 minutes, kind of a hard workout just to feel back in rhythm.”
“You can see now a little bit, not playing and not being able to play in preseason kind of held me back a little bit,” he added. “But just like I said before, you’re going to be able to see throughout these first 20 games how it’s going to look.”
Six at Indiana
A day later, he went 6-of-10 from three and scored 20 in 27 minutes in the comeback in Indianapolis, a 114-109 win, with a team-high plus-14. Four of his threes were assisted by LeBron James, including two in 22 seconds early in the second quarter that pushed the lead to 37-30.
The last two mattered most. Philadelphia trailed 88-75 going into the fourth quarter. Simons hit a 26-footer 18 seconds into the period and a 23-footer with 9:22 left, and Maxey’s 17 fourth-quarter points did the rest.
Simons’ six threes at Indiana, posted by the 76ers on X.
Asked about Simons’ night after the game, Joel Embiid, then 3-for-17 from three on the season, joked, according to reporter Adam Aaronson: “I might just give up on shooting threes myself.”
13 in a quarter against the Knicks
With Jaylen Brown out with a knee injury, Simons scored 21 on 7-of-11 shooting and 5-of-8 from three in Friday’s win over the Knicks, 98-93. He scored 13 of them in the third quarter, including a 27-footer off an Edgecombe pass with 5.1 seconds left that made it 77-68 going into the fourth, and added another three early in the fourth for an 83-74 lead.
One of Simons’ threes against the Knicks, posted by the 76ers on X.
“With missing one of your impact scorers, it’s going to change the rotations a lot,” Nurse said afterward. “Anfernee was scoring, obviously had an amazing game.”
The run at Charlotte
On Saturday, with James resting and Embiid out with a foot issue on the second night of a back-to-back, Nurse tried to keep one of Tyrese Maxey or Brown and one of Simons or VJ Edgecombe on the floor at all times. Simons scored 19 on 6-of-12 shooting with three steals and no turnovers in 25 minutes.
His biggest shot came late. Charlotte led 101-94 after a Grayson Allen three with 3:41 left. Simons answered with a 25-footer off a Dean Wade pass 30 seconds later, then scored on a running layup from Edgecombe to make it 101-100. Maxey’s free throws put Philadelphia ahead, and Edgecombe’s step-back three with 36.1 seconds left finished a 15-3 close.
Simons’ fifth three of the night at Charlotte, posted by Liberty Ballers on X.
Where it leaves him
Through seven games, Simons is averaging 12.0 points off the bench and shooting 43.8% from three (21-of-48), for a 6-1 team. It is the fifth time in his career he has made five or more threes in three straight games, and the first since December 2023, when he was with Portland.
The 76ers host the Chicago Bulls, one of his two teams last season, on Monday, Nov. 2, at 7:30 p.m. ET (2:30 a.m. Tuesday Cairo time). For the full game story from Saturday, see our Sixers-Hornets recap.
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