The Philadelphia 76ers are a team that has a lot of weapons on the offensive end, but there is one player who always seems to befuddle everybody out on the floor and that is Ben Simmons.

The 6-foot-10 All-Star has so much skill and he can use his size against anybody, but there are some nights where he just refuses to do so and that can be frustrating at times.

In Friday’s 127-111 Game 3 road win over the Atlanta Hawks, they got a big performance out of Simmons in the second half to get it done. He scored 14 points in the first half to finish with 18 for the game on 7-for-11 shooting.

This comes after he took only five shots in the first half and he passed up a few open looks.

“We just thought he passed up too many opportunities in the fast break and at the post,” said coach Doc Rivers. “We told him we’re gonna come out and feature him on the post and be aggressive with the past first. I always think when you start him out passing on the post, then he gets aggressive in the game, and it was great for us. It’s exactly what we need. With his pace and power, it was great.”

When Simmons is able to push the pace as he did in the second half on Friday, it opens up a lot of opportunities for everybody on offense, including himself. If Simmons is able to get himself going with his scoring, that is going to be a huge help for the Sixers moving forward.

“I just tried to push the pace, get in the lanes, find my guys and stay aggressive, get to the rim, and get them to, obviously, foul and get in some rhythm,” said Simmons after the win. “I think I did a good job that in the second half.”

The Hawks do not have anybody who can really stay in front of Simmons when he puts his head down and attacks. He has to continue to do that and continue to push forward. When he is able to aggressively look for his own offense, that is a big boost on that end of the floor.

“Taking advantage of some of the mismatches that were presented out there,” observed Tobias Harris. “They have a versatile group defensively, but there’s certain times where he can use his speed and his power out there to really back his way in and get to get to the cup. I thought he did a great job with that in the third quarter of using that aggressiveness and getting into the paint, making the right plays, right kick out plays, finishing as well. I thought he did a great job with that.”

It also helps that Simmons is playing next to a dominant big man like Joel Embiid who attracts so much attention. That gives him an opportunity to make his impact on the offensive end of the floor.

“I saw the way they were guarding me,” said Embiid. “(Clint) Capela, he didn’t want to leave me alone. Even if I was a half-court. They still didn’t want me to touch the ball and as soon as the ball was in the air, they doubled me. I just told him I was like, you need to be aggressive and he needs to attack, because there’s a lot of space. I told him to just be aggressive and just go out there and dominate.”

The Sixers will look to take a 3-1 stranglehold on the series when they take on the Hawks in Game 4 on Monday.

This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!