The next lowest percentage,among those with at least 67 foul shots in a post-season,is Shaquille O’Neal’s 37.4 per cent for Miami in 2006 – when the Heat wound up winning the NBA championship anyway.
“Obviously,I’ve got to knock down free throws,” Simmons said. “I’ve got to step up and do that.”
Game 6 of the series is Friday in Atlanta,with the top-seeded 76ers now in a win-or-go-home scenario since they trail the best-of-seven 3-2.
There have been 804 other instances in NBA history of a player taking at least 67 free throws in a single post-season. Of those,someone has finished below 50 per cent only 23 times,below than 40 per cent only five other times – three by Wilt Chamberlain,two by O’Neal.
Chamberlain and O’Neal are all-time greats,and another Hall of Famer – Ben Wallace,part of the 2021 class – would have been worse if he’d taken 67 free throws in the 2006 playoffs. He was 18 for 66 that spring,just 27.3 per cent.
Otherwise,Simmons stands alone right now when it comes to foul-line futility.
Simmons’ 10 misses from the line in Game 5 were the most by any player in any NBA game this season. In Philadelphia’s three losses to Atlanta in this series,he’s a combined 8 for 29 from the foul line. The 76ers have lost those games by a total of 10 points.