The Philadelphia 76ers enjoyed a positive start to Game 3 against the Toronto Raptors on Thursday evening, with the crowd at the Wells Fargo Crowd center exploding as the home team built a solid lead. In the midst of that, however, an incident occurred between Sixers star Ben Simmons and Raptors star Kyle Lowry, even if the officiating crew didn’t catch it in real time.
In short, Simmons caught Lowry with an elbow that immediately sent the veteran guard to the floor in serious pain.
Ben Simmons with the sneaky elbow to Kyle Lowry's balls pic.twitter.com/WmLzdsY8Lq
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Because the elbow wasn’t seen in the moment, Simmons was not assessed with any in-game discipline, which doesn’t look great in retrospect. The NBA can, of course, assess what transpired after the fact but, until they do, speculation will reign as to what might happen to Simmons.
With that said, this is an instance in which Simmons’ elbow was, at the very least, questionable, and it might ere on the side of dirty. ESPN’s Mike Breen reacted to the video in a sharp way and he was joined by many in seeing what certainly could have been an intentional act from Simmons. Opinions will differ on the logistics of the play but Lowry missed an entire possession on the floor and he immediately chased down nearby officials to plead his case in a way that would represent an aggrieved party.
