Shaq Tells Ben Simmons to ‘Man Up’

Over the years, the Inside the NBA crew has built a reputation for calling out current players. More notably, Shaq has issued “challenges” to the new generation of players.

Joel Embiid has become a fixture of these talks, as Shaq and Charles Barkley have demanded more from the All-Star center. Recently Shaq has fixed his sights on a different Sixers’ star.

It’s no secret that Ben Simmons has had his struggles in the latter half of the series against the Hawks. His play caused Shaq to make a stern statement to his fellow LSU Tiger.

“Ben, you went to LSU, man up. Stop messing around. Come on now, you know better than that,” Shaq said Saturday following the Bucks versus Nets Game 7 thriller.

These comments stem from Simmons’ troubles at the foul line, going 4-14 in the Sixers’ Game 5 loss. Ironically enough, free throws were also the weakest part of Shaq’s game.

Adding on to his struggles from the line, Simmons has been far less assertive than we are accustomed to seeing. In the previous two games, he has failed to crack double digits. Scoring eight and six points respectively.

Simmons finds himself with another opportunity to silence his critics. With everything coming down to one final game, the Sixers are going to need the All-Star at his best.

Along with his elite defense and facilitation, Simmons will need to show more aggressiveness on offensive end. When he is getting downhill and putting pressure at the rim, it opens up the floor for the others around him.

Simmons has been in similar situations like this before and has managed to silence his doubters. He will now attempt to do it one more time in Sunday’s series finale against Atlanta.

Kevin McCormick covers the Philadelphia 76ers for South Jersey’s 97.3 ESPN and Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @KevinMcCNBA.