Ben Simmons’ emphatic block on fellow Aussie as Nets fall short against Luka-led Mavs

Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic stole the show, hitting a series of 3-pointers — including one wild circus shot — to sink the Brooklyn Nets 125-120 on Saturday [AEDT].

There were promising signs for the young Nets in defeat though and that extended to the form of Australian Ben Simmons, who improved on a solid showing in the team’s season opener.

Simmons finished the loss with 10 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists to go with two blocks and two steals.

The Australian was particularly effective in the third quarter as he really started to attack towards the rim more, opening up opportunities for both himself and his teammates.

Simmons had six points, three rebounds and two assists in the third alone.

Simmons’ strong performance came with Nic Claxton (left ankle sprain) unavailable, which gave him — and the Nets’ offence as a whole — more space to operate with.

Once Claxton is healthy again it will be a challenge for coach Jacque Vaughn to work out how to best stagger the pair’s minutes so that Brooklyn’s offence doesn’t sink with two non-shooters on the floor.

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One of the bigger areas of concerns surrounding what was an otherwise solid first showing of the season against the Cavaliers was Simmons’ tendency to be too passive in scoring situations.

There were positive signs on Saturday though that with time Simmons will grow more confident in backing himself as the season progresses.

Simmons was active on the boards early, following up a Cam Thomas miss to bank it home for Brooklyn’s first bucket of the game.

Simmons then later drove directly at Luka Doncic in the second quarter and sent the Mavericks superstar flying before kicking it to a wide-open Dorian Finney-Smith for the 3-pointer.

The playmaking in transition remains one of the 26-year-old’s biggest strengths, with Simmons finding Thomas with a perfect bounce pass later in the second quarter.

Thomas then returned the favour shortly after in the third as he found Simmons for the alley-oop.

Simmons continued to maintain an aggressive approach, getting into downhill attack mode more often and also making an impact off the ball by setting screens to help teammates get open looks.

While Simmons may not always be making shots or piling up the points, it is hard to deny the offence functions much more cleanly with the three-time All-Star getting the ball in his hands.

It is a point that Vaughn made before the season tipped off, emphasising there are so many other ways Simmons can make a meaningful impact on the game.

“The ability to create for others is going to be huge for us. I talked about us not being an isolation team, and so we need movement,” Vaughn said at the time.

“We need body movement. We need ball movement. We need pace, and Ben provides that for us. Looking forward to the strengths of this team, taking advantage of that and kind of creating a cohesiveness where we understand how to get each other open and play together.”

Simmons also defended brilliantly and used his length to disrupt Doncic the best he could but at times there was little even he could do as the Slovenian star made shot after shot.

But Simmons, having had one poor pass snatched by fellow Australian Josh Green earlier in the game, got one back on the Sydney native on two occasions.

First he stole a wayward ball from Green before later emphatically blocking a 3-point attempt as the Nets held a slender 109-108 lead heading into the final minutes of the fourth quarter.