Ben Simmons Addresses Free Throw Struggles Following Game 5

A lot went wrong for the Philadelphia 76ers as a whole during Wednesday night's Game 5 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. As the Sixers led by as much as 26 points at halftime, the Sixers slowly but surely watched their double-digit lead slip away as the team failed to get its offense going in the second half. 

Although Ben Simmons' struggles from the free-throw line weren't the sole reason the Sixers lost on Wednesday, the All-Star guard struggled to help his team out as the Hawks sent Simmons to the line seven times throughout the game, with a handful of his visits to the charity stripe being a result of the "Hack-A-Ben" strategy, which Simmons saw a few times throughout the playoffs this year.

Heading into Wednesday night's game, Simmons hit on just eight of his 25 free throw attempts in the second-round series against the Hawks. Averaging roughly six foul shots per game, Simmons was forced to shoot 14 in his 38 minutes on the court during Game 5.

Unsurprisingly, he struggled. In the first half, Simmons drained just two of his eight attempts from the stripe. In the second half, when the Sixers needed him to come through for them the most, Simmons went 2-6. In total, he drained just 28-percent of his free throws as the Sixers dropped Game 5 with a 109-106 loss.

Following another postseason defeat, Simmons attempted to give answers regarding his struggles. When asked whether his issues from the line were physical or mental, the 24-year-old veteran simply replied: "Definitely, I think mental." 

While Simmons was never particularly known to be a reliable free-throw shooter throughout his young career, he was knocking down his foul shots at a career-high 67-percent heading into the All-Star break this past regular season.

Those numbers might've dropped to 53-percent for the second half of the season, but they've completely taken a cliff dive in the playoffs as he was hitting on just 34-percent of his free throws in the playoffs heading into Game 5.

“I have no idea [why my shooting dropped off]," Simmons admitted following Wednesday's game. "I have to get back. . . That’s on me.” 

Simmons and the Sixers will visit the Hawks in Atlanta on Friday night for Game 6. Considering his foul shooting has been totally off this postseason, Simmons will more than likely have his fair share of visits to the free-throw line. Will he figure out how to take advantage of free shots by Friday? Only time will tell.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.