The Philadelphia 76ers entered Monday night's road game against the Detroit Pistons winless for the new season. However, rookie Ben Simmons has been on a mission, recording double-double after double-double. In his latest outing, Simmons did one better, as he achieved his first career triple-double. Not only that, his 76ers picked up that elusive first win of the season. Here's the latest Sixers vs.
Pistons recap with top players, stats, a standings update, and what's next for these teams.
NBA game recap
After losing their first three games of the season, Philadelphia came into tonight's contest hungry for a win. They opened the first quarter on a 31-22 scoring pace and followed with a 25-21 second quarter to take a 56-43 lead into halftime. Detroit started to chip into the lead in the third with a 24-19 performance. In the fourth, the 76ers pulled away as they closed out with a 22-19 quarter.
Several players got involved to lead the way for the first Philadelphia 76ers' win of the season.
They included floor general Ben Simmons who scored 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting. Simmons also dished out 10 assists to teammates and grabbed 12 boards. Big man Joel Embiid put in 28 minutes on the court tonight and finished with 30 points and nine rebounds. Robert Covington was the only other Sixers player in double figures. He finished with 13 points on 4-for-7 shooting.
The Detroit Pistons received a double-double from their All-Star big man Andre Drummond. He scored 14 points and also had 14 rebounds. In addition, Drummond had four steals in the game. Avery Bradley scored 15 points on 7-of-16 shooting. Guard Reggie Jackson shot 7-for-17 and had 16 points to go with seven assists for his team.
Small forward Tobias Harris scored 11 points in the latest Pistons loss.
Philadelphia shot 46.7 percent for the game and 37.5 percent from downtown. The Pistons shot at a rate of 38.8 percent with only 20 percent of their long-range shots going down. In the rebounding battle, Philly smoked the Pistons on the boards with a 49-39 advantage. Turnovers were a different story, as the less experienced Sixers had 21 of them compared to 14 for the home team.
Standings & what's next
The Philadelphia 76ers pick up their first win of the season to move to 1-3 overall and 1-2 on the road. For their next game, the Sixers take on the Houston Rockets this Wednesday in Philadelphia, starting at 7 p.m. Eastern Time.
With tonight's loss, the Detroit Pistons fall to 2-2 overall and 1-1 on their home court. Next up, the Pistons will host the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern Time.