{"id":73961,"date":"2021-05-21T06:40:11","date_gmt":"2021-05-21T06:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=73961"},"modified":"2021-05-21T08:06:45","modified_gmt":"2021-05-21T08:06:45","slug":"aussie-duo-named-finalists-for-annual-nba-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=73961","title":{"rendered":"Aussie duo named finalists for annual NBA awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian duo Ben Simmons<\/a> and Joe Ingles<\/a> have been rewarded for fantastic individual seasons, with both players named as finalists for the NBA's season awards. <\/p>\n

Simmons is a finalist for the Defensive Player of the Year award and is joined by Rudy Gober<\/a>t of the Utah Jazz and Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors.<\/p>\n

<\/strong>MORE: <\/strong>Gobert hits back at Simmons over Defensive Player of the Year call<\/a><\/p>\n

Ingles is a finalist for the Sixth Man of the Year award and is joined by Jazz teammate Jordan Clarkson and Derrick Rose of the New York Knicks. <\/p>\n

Simmons' defensive potential has been on show since he entered the league back in the 2017-18 season, and he is a season removed from being named in the NBA's All-Defensive first team.<\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/p>\n

However, the 24-year-old will face stiff competition from Gobert, who is a two-time winner of the defensive award and a four-time All-Defensive first team member.<\/p>\n

Despite Gobert's credentials, Simmons maintained confidence that his ability to guard multiple positions on the floor would put him over the top.<\/p>\n

"I'm not even questioning it right now. I know I am (the best defender in the NBA). That's a fact," he said last month after a match-up against the Brooklyn Nets.<\/p>\n

"The example would be last night. I was supposed to guard [Kevin Durant]. We match up well size wise. KD's out. The next person I'm guarding is Kyrie [Irving]. Like, who's doing that? It's not many players who are doing that.<\/p>\n

\"Joe<\/p>\n

"To be doing it at a high level like that, I don't think there's anybody else really doing that. I mean, Kawhi [Leonard] when he was really playing defence like that, of course. But it's not too many guys."<\/p>\n

Winning the Sixth Man of the Year award would be a terrific achievement for Ingles, who has excelled since being moved into his new role over the last two seasons.<\/p>\n

After being a consistent starter for the Jazz for two consecutive seasons, Ingles has started just 30 of his 67 years this season, but has put up career-highs in points (12.1), field goal percentage (48.9) and three-point percentage (45.1).<\/p>\n

The NBA also revealed its finalists for the MVP award, with Warriors star Stephen Curry, Simmons' teammate Joel Embiid and Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic the top three.<\/p>\n

\"Nikola<\/p>\n

OTHER NBA AWARD FINALISTS<\/strong><\/h3>\n

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
<\/strong>LaMelo Ball, Charlotte Hornets
Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves
Tyrese Haliburton, Sacramento Kings<\/p>\n

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER
<\/strong>Jerami Grant, Detroit Pistons
Michael Porter Jr, Denver Nuggets
Julius Randle, New York Knicks<\/p>\n

COACH OF THE YEAR
<\/strong>Quin Snyder, Utah Jazz
Tom Thibodeau, New York Knicks
Monty Williams, Phoenix Suns<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/em>For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australian duo Ben Simmons and Joe Ingles have been rewarded for fantastic individual seasons, with both players named as finalists for the NBA's season awards. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73961"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=73961"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73963,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73961\/revisions\/73963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=73961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=73961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=73961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}