Sixers Literally Invent a New Play on the Fly

Two assists or one point apiece?

The Sixers pulled off a two-for-one dunk when Ben Simmons threw up an alley-oop and both Joel Embiid and Robert Covington leapt to slam it.

The entertaining play occurred in the first quarter of the Sixers' 100-82 win over the Pelicans Friday (see observations). The Sixers got out running on a fast break, and it turns out Simmons had multiple options at the hoop.

Embiid ended up being the one to execute the dunk in a moment with a true photo finish.

Philadelphia 76ers

Complete coverage of the Philadelphia 76ers and their rivals in the NBA from NBC Sports Philadelphia.

Sixers down 4 players for opening game of Magic mini-series 

With NBA Cup quarterfinals set, Sixers have 2 new games on calendar 

Check out the reaction to the play, which left the Sixers laughing.

Joel Embiid: "I think it was after a steal. I was wide open. I didn't actually see. Usually he (Covington) runs to the three-point line, so I figured that I was open by myself. Then I jumped. I felt somebody next to me. I already had the ball in my hand; I'm sorry. But we shared a dunk. He should have had one point and I should have had one point."

Robert Covington: "Me and Ben made eye contact, I guess Jo as well. So he just threw it at the rim and we both went up and got it … his momentum knocked me over and I just was like, I'm going to catch myself. (Laughs) ... Ben was like, ‘Do I get two assists? Do I get one?' … [Embiid] was like, ‘So are we going to split that or what?' He just was happy we made an exciting play for the crowd and Ben's facial expression was just like, ‘Whoa, did that really just happen?'"

Dario Saric: "I was confused in that time. Like, ‘Who scored it?' Like, ‘What's happened?' Did he (Simmons) get two assists or one? What was the end of that?"

Brett Brown: "You've got two young guys that want to make the play. At that stage, the game was an open gym, we're up and down the floor, you've got two guys running and pointing when we send it up and both of them go after. It's fun, I think it's fun. I think when you play defense the way that we have been playing defense, then there's a part of open court and the freedom to play in open that I encourage our guys to be proactive with. In that particular play, it looked like they had some fun after a stop."

Contact Us