Tobias Harris’ postseason high, Ben Simmons’ milestone, Matisse Thybulle’s clutch defense led to Game 1 win | Sixers-Wizards best/worst

So much for Tobias Harris not being a productive postseason player. The 76ers forward destroyed that myth Sunday in Game 1 of the NBA’s best-of-seven opening-round playoff series.

Harris scored 37 points in the 125-118 victory over the Washington Wizards, erasing memories of shooting 38.3% in last season’s first-round series loss to the Boston Celtics.

Here are the best and worst awards from Sunday’s game:

Harris gets this. His game-high points came on 15-for-29 shooting (51.7%), including making 2-of-5 three-pointers. Harris scored 28 of his points in the first half. He scored 12 of the Sixers’ first 27 points on 6-for-8 shooting. The 10th-year veteran also had six rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Furkan Forkmaz gets this. The Sixers reserve guard once again failed to make a shot in a postseason game. Korkmaz missed his three shots, all three-pointers, while playing 4 minutes, 53 seconds in the second quarter and didn’t see any more action. This comes after he shot 0-for-7 overall when the Sixers were swept by the Celtics in last season’s first-round series.

This goes to Matisse Thybulle. The Sixers reserve guard finished with a game-high two blocks to go with two steals in 13:46. He blocked Russell Westbrook’s dunk attempt with 42.6 seconds left in the first quarter. His second block came when Bradley Beal attempted an 18-foot pull-up jumper with 2:04 left in the third quarter and the Sixers clinging to a five-point cushion. Thirty-one seconds later, Thybulle stole a pass from Beal. Then the Sixers defensive standout stripped the Wizards All-Star with 35.1 seconds left in the quarter.

This goes to Ben Simmons’ 15 rebounds and 15 assists. Simmons joined Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain as the only Sixers to finish with at least 15 rebounds and 15 assists in a postseason game. Chamberlain accomplished the feat on March 24, 1967, against the Cincinnati Royals. He had 30 rebounds and 19 assists. LeBron James, Fat Lever, and Hall of Famers Jason Kidd and Magic Johnson are the only other players in NBA history to do it.

This goes to Simmons’ going 0-for-6 from the foul line. The All-Star point guard missed four of his attempts in the fourth quarter. Don’t be surprised if the Wizards go to the “Hack of Ben” if Simmons doesn’t start consistently making foul shots.

This goes to the Wells Fargo Center atmosphere. The arena was rocking Sunday. Because of the pandemic, the Sixers had 11,160 fans in attendance, around 50% capacity. But it felt like 20,000-plus.

The crowd was electric and provided a huge home-court advantage for the Sixers.