It’s been a rough few weeks for Ben Simmons. The Philadelphia 76ers’ All-Star point forward was a shell of his usual self during the team’s 4-3 series loss to the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. It got to the point that he received rare public criticism from Doc Rivers and Joel Embiid, while long-simmering questions about whether or not he should be traded have boiled over.
And now, teams in other sports that head to the City of Brotherly Love are getting in on the fun. The Washington Nationals are in Philly to take on the, well, Phillies. The home side found itself up, 5-2, in the top of the fifth with Kyle Schwarber up at the dish for the Nats.
The 0-1 pitch ended up being a curveball right in Schwarber’s wheelhouse, so he hit it into the stands. Now, there were two men on base, meaning this was a three-run home run and if you really can’t figure out where the Nationals’ social media team is going with this, well, yeah.
Game-tying 3 pointers in Philly this year:
Ben Simmons: 0
Kyle Schwarber: 1@kschwarb12 // #NATITUDE pic.twitter.com/mjZgjsNLJH— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) June 23, 2021
Of course, the Nationals are probably the one team that can’t have too much fun with this, as the only team the Sixers beat this postseason was the Washington Wizards. But at the same time, all’s fair in the world of trash talk so long as you can back it up, and Schwarber certainly did that.