Ben Simmons makes return to Clippers lineup following one-game absence
Los Angeles Clippers forward Ben Simmons has appeared in three games for his new team since being bought out by the Brooklyn Nets. In three games for L.A. thus far, Simmons is averaging 8.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 2.0 steals and 0.7 blocks per game. The two-time All-Defensive team member has also brought defensive versatility and an ability to push the pace in transition.
Simmons missed L.A.’s last game, a 106-97 loss against the Detroit Pistons, on Monday. His absence was due to left-knee injury management, per the Clippers.
The game in Detroit was the second in as many nights for the Clippers, and Simmons has yet to be cleared to play back-to-backs. The last time Simmons played on consecutive nights was in January, 2023 for the Nets.
Availability has been an issue for Simmons in his NBA career, particularly in the last five seasons where has played just 208 regular-season games. Ahead of facing the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday, the Clippers made an announcement regarding Simmons’ status for the contest.
After the game against Chicago, a 122-117 victory in which Simmons played 18 minutes with six points, eight rebounds and eight assists, the Clippers will return to Los Angeles for two games against the Lakers at Crypto.com Arena.
With only 25 games remaining in the regular season, the Clippers are hoping to turn things around and make a late push to keep themselves in the sixth seed in the Western Conference, avoiding the play-in.
This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.
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It was an emotional night for Luka Doncic when he faced his former team (the Dallas Mavericks) mere weeks after they traded him. In a recent viral interview, Doncic’s dad, Sasa, revealed his son’s initial thoughts after securing the win in such a pivotal matchup. “Luka was happy because they won,” said Doncic via POPo lnKanal. “About his game, he knows he can play better but it’s still too early for him to get used to this new environment. I believe that from now on there will be more matches and he’ll know his teammates even better. Otherwise he was very happy that they won the game, and because that was Dallas, he was even happier.” Tuesday’s showdown against the Mavericks was the game of the week, featuring Doncic going up against the same team that turned their backs on him. His scoring was relatively low by his standards but he put up a triple-double with 19 points, 15 rebounds, and 12 assists on 35.3% shooting. Most importantly, the Lakers won the game and Luka got closer to finding his place within the offense. As LeBron James steps back, Doncic is taking control and Sasa knows it won’t be long before he’s back to dominating on a nightly basis. As someone who likes the ball in his hands, it was expected for Doncic to need time to learn how to play with LeBron James, who has been the primary ball handler for the Lakers for years. Already, they are showing great progress and there is no doubt they will develop their chemistry. For now, however, Luka is still acclimating to life as a Laker as it’s only been five games since the trade. Doncic, who spent seven years with the Mavericks, was shellshocked by the deal and Sasa himself admitted that his son felt betrayed by his team. To add insult to injury, the Mavericks defended their decision by blaming Luka’s poor health habits and conditioning. There were reports that Luka was feared within the franchise and that Nico Harrison wanted to free his team from Doncic’s control. The conditions of Luka’s exit have given him the perfect fuel to begin the best stretch of his career and he has seen enough to believe they can win it all. The Mavericks created a monster out of Doncic and now he’s more driven than he’s ever been to help lead his brand new team to the depths of the Western Conference playoffs. So far, the Lakers are 7-2 in the Luka era and they are looking like a contender to win the West. While it’s still too early to make any conclusions on his Lakers tenure, Doncic is already making a huge impact both on and off the court. Things are finally starting to settle after the trade and Doncic continues to look better after every passing game. Meanwhile, stifling team defense from LeBron James and others is keeping the competition in check and allowing Doncic to shine. The result has been an inspiring showing for the new-look Lakers, and Luka is poised to make the Mavericks pay for trading him for the rest of his career.
As was reported earlier, forward Patrik Laine was absent from the Montreal Canadiens’ Thursday morning skate. He wasn’t the only one, as no fewer than four players were missing from the Canadiens’ practice. The practice took place at the Bell Centre, as it is game day in Montreal, with the San Jose Sharks in town. In short, the five absent players were Josh Anderson, Kirby Dach (injured), Patrik Laine, David Savard and Brendan Gallagher. We know that Anderson is dealing with some discomfort, though he will ultimately play Thursday night. We know that Kirby Dach is injured, David Savard is dealing with discomfort (he has missed several practices recently) and Brendan Gallagher had an obligation. But in the case of Patrik Laine, there was no clear reason for his absence. This raised some questions. Canadiens announce that Thursday’s practice was optional That explains it. “MONTREAL – The Canadiens held an optional morning skate ahead of their matchup against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.” Laine appears to be the only player who simply chose not to take the ice, without an apparent reason. Martin St. Louis’ squad will face the San Jose Sharks at home at 7 p.m. ET. Laine will be in the lineup, alongside Alex Newhook and impressive young center Owen Beck.
The Philadelphia Eagles have frustrated many of their opponents with the tush push, but Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh has made it clear he is not one of the people calling for the play to be banned. NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent said Monday that an unnamed team has formally proposed a rule that would ban the tush push. A report later revealed that the Green Bay Packers are the team seeking to remove the so-called “Brotherly Shove” from the NFL. Harbaugh was asked about the play and offered a very blunt replay, via Fox News — “get good at it or stop it.” “It just seems like it works every single time, but it seems like football to me. Get good at it or stop it,” Harbaugh said. “I don’t have a strong opinion on it right now and probably defer to others and see which way the vote goes. Get good at it ourselves, or get in position to stop it.” It is hardly a surprise that the Packers are the team looking to have the tush push banned. In a recent Q A on his team’s official website, Packers president Mark Murphy openly complained about the play. Murphy said there is “no skill involved” with the play. You can read his full comments. There has been talk of banning the tush push for over a year. The NFL and NFLPA had said they were planning to study the injury data related to the play to determine whether there are safety concerns. To this point, there has been no data that would support doing away with the play because of injury risk. The Eagles used the tush push multiple times during their Super Bowl run. There was one sequence of plays during the NFC Championship Game where the Washington Commanders kept jumping offsides when they knew Jalen Hurts was about to run the play. The Eagles eventually scored, but many fans learned about a stunning NFL rule in the process. Harbaugh’s old-school mentality about the tush push is right on brand for the Chargers coach. He knows that if the play truly required no skill, the Eagles would not be the only team to have perfected it. Defenses simply have to find a more efficient way to stop it.
Things aren’t going well for the Pittsburgh Penguins lately. Having fallen out of playoff contention and set to miss the postseason for the third straight year, they’re in the early stages of a rebuild. They also entered Thursday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers on a four-game losing streak, having just been embarrassed by their cross-state rivals earlier in the week. Thursday’s game did not start off much better as they allowed the first three goals of the game. After the third goal, the Penguins made the decision to bench Alex Nedeljkovic, replacing him with rookie Joel Blomqvist. That did not sit well with the veteran Nedeljkovic. Before leaving the bench, he smashed his goalie stick over the crossbar, launched the remaining piece of it into the corner of the ice, slammed the door to the bench and appeared to scream at somebody on the bench. Was it head coach Mike Sullivan? Was it his teammates? Was it both? Either way, he was livid. Goaltending has been a major issue for the Penguins this season as Nedeljkovic, Blomqvist and Tristan Jarry have all struggled. It has been an especially big problem in recent weeks. Having said that, Thursday’s game was not really on Nedeljkovic. Yes, he gave up three goals to put the Penguins into a 3-0 deficit, but two of the goals bounced in off his own teammates. There was a lot of bad luck there, and he probably felt it was unfair to single him out for that. It was also the most emotion anybody on the Penguins has shown since they returned from the 4 Nations Face-Off break. Maybe that was the goal Sullivan had when he made the change: trying to spark something with the team.
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Ben Simmons (back) off injury report Friday
by Ari Koslow | Clippers Correspondent | Thu, Feb 27th 8:12pm EST
Ben Simmons is off the injury report for Friday’s game against the Lakers. (Tomer Azarly on Twitter)
Fantasy Impact:
Simmons played 18 minutes in Wednesday’s win over the Bulls. His fantasy upside remains limited in his current role, though he still racked up six points, eight rebounds and eight assists in just 18 minutes on Wednesday.
Category: Injury Updates | More Ben Simmons: News, Rankings, Stats
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