Forget Ben Simmons and fret about the Nets | Marcus Hayes

I’m tired of Ben Simmons. You probably are, too. We’ve got to move on. This sort of resentment isn’t healthy.

It’s not as hard as I thought it would be.

» READ MORE: Philly villains Carson Wentz, Ben Simmons now face endless Eagles, Sixers venom | Marcus Hayes

Simmons’ street-clothed cameo Thursday with the Nets provided an unexpectedly cathartic experience. It was like seeing your ex with someone new ... and not really caring. Not happy, exactly, just indifferent. And it’s weird. Because Ben Simmons won the night.

You’ve got to admit it. Simmons was brave, and it was brilliant.

There’s little question that, in a sports town consumed with resentments, Simmons stands as the most deplored traitor ever. He makes J.D. Drew, Scott Rolen, and Carson Wentz seem righteous by comparison. Most Philly fans would buy Sidney Crosby a drink, hail Joe Carter a cab, and let Michael Irvin marry their first-born daughter before they’d hold an elevator door for Ben-edict Simmons.

But credit belongs where credit is due. Simmons and his representatives, Klutch Sports, finally did the first smart thing they’d done since Simmons’ dunk-choke in last year’s playoffs led to a boycott that left the Sixers with a $33 million, All-Star hole on their team.

Ben showed up.

Touché.

He took his bitter medicine in a glass of Kool-Aid. He softened the humiliation of returning to Philadelphia by coming back as a spectator, like some punk kid who’d earned a bloody nose coming back to the playground with his two big brothers.

Who kicked everybody’s butt.

Brilliant. Simply brilliant.

What’s more, Simmons & Co. knew that talent would take the night. They realized that the Nets now are a team perfectly suited to demolish the momentum James Harden had lent the Sixers since Ben and the Beard switched teams Feb. 10. Harden won his first five games as a Sixer, but the Nets stomped him Thursday, by 29. It didn’t feel that close.

Sure, Simmons got booed, roasted, and heckled. So what. He absorbed obscenities during warmups, snuck onto the Nets bench as the Sixers were being introduced, and smirked when the inevitable “F--- Ben Simmons!” chant descended.

Generally, though, he enjoyed himself. Because by the end of the game the discussion had turned from the disgust toward Simmons to the city’s fear of Kevin Durant, and Kyrie Irving, and Brooklyn’s justified claim as the most dangerous team in the Eastern Conference -- at least, a team much better than what the Sixers are at this moment.

They hold the eighth seed, but they’ll probably jump two or three spots in the 15 games remaining after Thursday. Always follow the bookies: DraftKings makes them the favorite to win the East. Now that Durant is back, nobody’s betting against the Nets.

Anyone associated with Simmons’ smugness since he’d been drafted first overall in 2016 couldn’t help but hope he’d get his comeuppance Thursday night. Years of distancing himself from the fans and his own teammates, cloaking himself in the warm dysfunction of his family and his entourage, offering obtuse, aloof evaluations of his own flawed play, made him as unpopular a star as the town has ever known -- and the town has known plenty, from Dick Allen and Mike Schmidt to Eric Lindros and Mike Mamula.

That revenge didn’t come in Simmons’ return. It might still, if Simmons plays poorly over the next few seasons, and that dish might be all the more delicious served cold -- but, for now, Simmons has won. And it’s best that Philadelphia accept that, and get over it. There are more pressing issues, such as the fate of this Sixers team. They never stood a chance Thursday.

That wasn’t because Doc Rivers got outcoached, or because the Sixers were over-excited, or even because Harden missed 14 of 17 field goals (and, incredibly, all 10 of his two-point shots). Harden wasn’t horrible, exactly.

Rather, the Nets were very good. They defended him like a team that knew exactly how to defend him. That’s not surprising, considering they’d employed him for the previous season and a half.

Also, the Nets rolled because Durant remains the best offensive player on the planet, as he has been for a decade. Finally, when Irving is fresh and engaged, he’s as good as any guard alive. The Nets have depth, and experience, and maturity. They also know how to win, and how stars align.

Steve Nash, who was a Hall of Fame player, was a consultant on Durant’s teams that won titles in Golden State in 2017 and 2018 alongside Steph Curry. Irving and LeBron James beat the Warriors for the championship in 2016, just before Durant arrived.

Meanwhile, Joel Embiid has never advanced past the second round. Harden has been to just one championship game, which was a decade ago, and he rode Durant to that finals with the Thunder as a bench player. It’s been 12 years since Rivers made it to the Finals, and that was two teams ago.

These Nets have winning DNA, and they played like it Thursday.

The rest of the league will take notice.

The Nets surrendered perimeter jumpers to Tyrese Maxey, one-on-one chances to Tobias Harris, and anything Matisse Thybulle wanted. It worked. It had little to do with Harden’s inefficiency, or the magnitude of the moment, or the Nets’ being inspired by their still-irrelevant teammate. Simmons, citing back problems, remains sidelined. And that’s the bad news for the Sixers and everyone else.

The Nets are already very good without Simmons. They’re going to be even better with him.

The sooner everyone accepts that, the sooner they’ll be able to accept the Sixers for what they are: the best version of themselves since 1983, and the third-best team in the Eastern Conference, which is the seed they currently hold.

The Heat are in first place, with recent wins over the Sixers and Nets, but they’re a mirage. The Bucks have won six straight, vaulting them to No. 2 in the East. Their offense is sizzling; they’re defending the title, and they would walk this Nets team right into the East River.

Just like the Nets dumped the Sixers into the Schuylkill. Without Ben Simmons. Still, Simmons won Thursday. He’s going to win a lot more. And he’s gone.

The sooner everybody accepts all of that, the healthier we’ll all be.