Kevin Knox shows Ben Simmons who’s boss as 76ers face the Knicks

Ben Simmons’ week went from bad to worse when a teenage beast schooled at the rim to make it a horrible case of deja vu for the Aussie star.

Ben Simmons isn’t enjoying his time on defence.

First it was Jayson Tatum, now Kevin Knox has left Ben Simmons as roadkill.

As Philadelphia secured a 126-111 win over the New York Knicks, who have sunk to a franchise-low 18 consecutive single-season losses, 19-year-old beast Knox showed no fear against his Aussie rival.

Charging towards the basket and onto a bounce pass from teammate DeAndre Jordan, Knox made the paint his own and slammed down a dunk on Simmons.

The move sat 22-year-old Simmons on his backside as he was powerless to prevent the teenager adding another bucket for New York.

Twitter lost its mind.

🗣 TALK TO 'EM KEV! pic.twitter.com/aONlLEGhvb

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) February 14, 2019

Knicks' highlight for the rest of the season just happened. Kevin Knox absolutely destroyed Ben Simmons on a dunk.

— Brian Mahoney (@briancmahoney) February 14, 2019

Kevin Knox just murdered Ben Simmons

— Michael Pina (@MichaelVPina) February 14, 2019

Kevin Knox just did a bad thing to Ben Simmons

— Sarah Todd (@NBASarah) February 14, 2019

KEVIN KNOX JUST ENDED BEN SIMMONS

— Adam Kudeimati (@iamadamthe1st) February 14, 2019

It was a cruel blow for Simmons, whose ego was probably still recovering from yesterday’s episode against the Celtics.

Simmons duelled with last season’s Rookie of the Year rival Tatum in an entertaining clash that saw the Boston star laugh last as he won the battle and his team won the war.

Simmons started things off as he breezed into the lane after a nifty hesitation move and cocked the ball back before throwing down a monster jam.

But as good as Simmons’ dunk was, it had nothing on Tatum’s effort. The young gun spun around All-Star centre Joel Embiid before throwing down over the top of Philly’s Aussie superstar.

Simmons’ latest showdown may give him second thoughts about contesting at the rim in future.

Simmons threw it down and Tatum immediately responded with a yam 😳 pic.twitter.com/f7izSsgvGl

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 13, 2019

But Simmons didn’t take the biggest tumble of the night. That unfortunate honour belonged to this poor courtside statistician, who copped an Embiid kung-fu kick to the chest.

This man just took a Joel Embiid Liu Kang kick to the chest put on his glasses and went right back to work pic.twitter.com/LwlZqb3cQN

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) February 14, 2019

Regina King’s life just flashed before her eyes pic.twitter.com/YPLAwjyR6E

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) February 14, 2019

Boston enhanced its reputation as one of Philly’s bogey teams by wrapping up a 112-109 win on Wednesday, but the Sixers had an easier time of it today as they cruised to a 71-55 halftime lead over the Knicks.

The visitors bounced back in the third quarter, outscoring Phiadelphia 36-29 to reduce the deficit to nine heading into the final term.

At one stage Simmons — a noted poor shooter from the free throw line — was six of eight from the charity stripe but slumped to eight of 14 at the end of the third.

With one quarter left Simmons had racked up 18 points — level with Embiid for the biggest scoreboard contribution by any Sixer — to go with four rebounds and six assists.

He added one assist to that statline in the fourth as the Sixers eased to their 15-point win.