Why Didn't Sixers Send Ben Simmons to Shut Carmelo Anthony Down?

Doc Rivers explains keeping Ben Simmons off Carmelo Anthony.

On Thursday night, the Portland Trail Blazers got a little taste of what vintage Carmelo Anthony is like. Earlier in his career, Anthony could heat up at any given moment and give opposing defenses a fit. In recent years, though, we've seen a regressed version of Carmelo as age is beginning to catch up with him.

However, just because Melo's getting older, doesn't mean he doesn't have the ability to heat up and go off every now and then. And the future Hall of Famer proved that much on Thursday night against the Philadelphia 76ers.

In 25 minutes off the bench on Thursday, Anthony shot 9-for-15 from the field, collecting 24 points in the Blazers' 118-114 win over the Sixers. Heading into the fourth quarter that night, Anthony had just seven points. In crunch time, though, the Blazers leaned on him as he scored 17 points in 12 minutes to close the game out.

Seeing Carmelo Anthony heating up and constantly hitting shots raised a major question in Philadelphia... Why wasn't Ben Simmons sent to guard him?

As Simmons has established himself as a versatile defender who is one of the best in the league on that side of the ball, Doc Rivers and the Sixers tend to stick Simmons on the hot hand -- especially when the second half rolls around.

On Thursday, they didn't do that. After the game, Rivers explained his simple logic behind the decision. “Ben was busy guarding Damian Lillard,” he said. “I think Lillard was 2-for-14 the rest of the game. You can always take Ben off him and let the other guy get going if you like. You can’t have him guard everybody.”

As always, Lillard was having himself a game on offense as he garnered 26 points before the fourth quarter rolled around. As he's typically Portland's closer, the Sixers believed that if they could shut Lillard down, it would be enough to come out of Portland on Thursday night with a win.

Simmons was up for the task. "I take pride in guarding the best player on the floor every night," Simmons said after the game. "It's not a one-off thing. If you watch me, I'm typically guarding the best player." While guarding Lillard exclusively in the fourth quarter, the Blazers star shot just 1-for-5 from the field for four points.

Once again, Simmons did his job as a lockdown defender in crunch time, but somebody else on the floor managed to go off. “Once Carmelo gets it going, he’s still Carmelo and he reminded us of that today,” Doc Rivers said. 

Sure, Simmons might've given the Sixers a better chance of locking down Anthony and preventing his 17-point fourth quarter, but there's no guarantee somebody else could've locked down Lillard, either. Rivers and the Sixers played their cards right, but Carmelo Anthony caused Philly to fold in the end.

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