Sixers' Doc Rivers Reached Breaking Point on Ben Simmons Scoring Slander

Doc Rivers has had enough of the Ben Simmons criticism. Ever since inking a deal to become the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers, Rivers has found himself battling Ben Simmons critics who only focus on his lack of scoring and shooting at times.

With the regular season in the books and the NBA Playoffs here, Rivers must've thought the criticism would've suddenly dissolved, but it's only gotten worse since the postseason started two Sundays ago.

Following a Game 1 victory over the Washington Wizards, Rivers couldn't believe a playoff victory was somewhat overshadowed by the fact that Simmons scored just six points -- especially in a game where he collected 15 rebounds and 15 assists.

"If you guys don't know the treasure you have by now, then shame on everyone," Rivers said last Tuesday. "He's been fantastic for us. He creates points every single night for us. When Ben was on the floor, we were really good. I'm amazed that people don't see what he does. We're so caught up in the amount of points he scored. Like, if Ben had all 125 points, would we be mad if Joel (Embiid) didn't score? Who cares who scores, as long as we're scoring. When Ben plays, we score more points."

Although Simmons claims the outside noise didn't motivate him to make changes in Game 2, the veteran guard came out and had himself a solid scoring outing as he dropped 22 points in the second-straight victory over Washington.

The following game, he quietly collected another 14 points in the third-straight win over the Wizards. With a potential sweep in play on Monday night, the Wizards had to utilize a new strategy. Although Simmons has played a fantastic series all-around in the first three games, his free-throw shooting has been horrendous.

Going into Monday night's Game 4 matchup, Simmons was 0-9 from the line. Knowing that's a clear weakness, Wizards head coach Scott Brooks teased the idea of potentially sending Simmons to the line on purpose in crunch time, adopting a 'Hack-a-Ben' strategy before the game.

As the Sixers and the Wizards engaged in a tight battle late in the fourth quarter, Brooks instructed his team to force Simmons to the charity stripe, preventing the Sixers from playing real offense down the stretch.

Simmons collected 11 free throw opportunities on Monday night. He drained just five of them. When asked if he considered taking Simmons out for a few moments so they could get back to playing basketball traditionally without relying on the All-Star's weakness to help win them the game, Rivers was baffled.

“No, [that thought doesn’t cross my mind]," Rivers said. "You want me to take Ben Simmons off the floor? I’ll pass on that one. He’s pretty good. So, I’ll pass on that suggestion." Knowing the topic of Simmons' shooting struggles would likely dominate headlines, Rivers ranted in defense of his starting point guard following the loss.

“You guys keep this Ben Simmons narrative alive, which to me, is freaking insane," Rivers said. "How good this guy is and all the things he does. . . Ben is not a 40-point guy, it’s not what he does. He does other things for your team. I just don’t understand why that’s not sinking in, in our city. Everybody on the team doesn’t have to be a scorer to help the team. Ben scores, but Ben creates scoring for us. That’s what he does. If I’m Ben, at some point, I’d get tired of it — I just would. He’s just too good and does so many good things for this basketball team. I keep saying, ‘Celebrate him! Celebrate all of the stuff he does well.’ We don’t do that enough.”

Simmons, who addressed the shooting concerns on his own Monday night, didn't have a similar reaction to Rivers. As he expected the questions regarding his struggles were coming, Simmons said he just has to knock those shots down. While Rivers believes Simmons will soon get tired of the narrative, it was the head coach who seemed to have reached his breaking point on the subject -- not Simmons himself.

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