They say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
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Except a 76er fan booing Ben Simmons.
Brooklyn’s Simmons has a history in Philadelphia, and while he’s returned to Wells Fargo Center before, he knows full well that he’ll keep getting booed by 76ers fans for the rest of his career.
But he’s not afraid of it.
He feeds off it.
“Yeah, I also love that,” said Simmons, who leads his Nets back to Philadelphia on Saturday from 11am (AEDT).
“I love being in arenas where it’s loud and people are booing and all that stuff. So, it comes with the game. It’s a part of it. And I love it.”
Simmons played 275 games for the Sixers over six years, missing his rookie campaign to injury and 2021-22 to mental health issues and back woes.
His detachment, hesitancy to drive and eventual holdout made him persona non grata.
One fan famously paraded all around town with a sign saying ‘F**k Ben Simmons’ — while he was still on the roster.
His divorce from the 76ers was ugly, and Simmons has been the subject of hatred from their fans ever since being dealt to the Nets for James Harden.
“You can only boo so much,” Simmons shrugged.
This will be Simmons’ fourth time playing at Wells Fargo Center since being traded to the Nets.
He also missed one of their visits last season and their March 10 visit just weeks after his arrival.
But Wells Fargo Center had to beef up security in that first return — even though he was injured and not playing — and he’s aware that Philadelphia fans have elevated booing to an art form.
“Sure. That’s what Philly’s about, you know? Shoot, when I was in Philly we got booed at times when we weren’t playing well. So it goes both ways,” said Simmons.
“But they’re passionate fans. And that’s why Philly the city is so great, and the fans are so great.”
The 6-9 Nets have unexpectedly started this season much better than the 2-12 76ers, who sit dead-last in the East as their new big three of Joel Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey have been heavily disrupted by injury.
Embiid (knee) goes into Saturday’s game with a questionable tag, while George (knee bruise) is out.
Simmons clearly got fired up in the win over Charlotte by his clash with Hornets star Brandon Miller.
He’ll draw inspiration from the bile that is sure to come in Wells Fargo Center.
“I really hope so, because it’s just cool,” said Cam Johnson. “You step back, take a look at it. And I think that’s the cool part of being an athlete, is that people really care. They might care for you, they might kind of hate on you or whatever, but the bottom line is they care.
“They have somebody that they support, they have something that they cheer for, and that’s kind of what makes our league and every other professional league and sport in general go around. So it’s just something that you’ve got to embrace. I hope he embraces it. Philly’s always kind of crazy, rowdy. They’ve got a lot to say. You know when Ben comes into town, they definitely have a lot to say. But I just hope it just gives our team energy and we’re able to feed off that.”
There will surely be tons of negative energy directed at Simmons, if the Nets can flip that around to positive energy to feed off and rally around their point-forward.
“Yeah, you have to as a competitor,” said Brooklyn centre Nic Claxton.
“If people are booing you, they don’t boo people that they don’t care about. So, you’re relevant. So, you’re in their mind. You can look at it as a good thing.”
It’s one of several big games on Saturday’s NBA Cup card including Aussies Josh Giddey and Dyson Daniels facing off when Chicago hosts Atlanta at 12pm.
In other games, Milwaukee hosts Indiana in a playoffs rematch at 12pm and Denver is home to Dallas at 2pm.
-This story was originally published in the New York Post and reproduced with permission.
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