NBA Playoffs: Ben Simmons Better Than Kyrie Irving, Chris Broussard Says

The Cleveland Cavaliers are favorites to emerge victors from the Eastern Conference playoffs, but the Philadelphia 76ers are the best team in the East at the moment, according to sports analyst Chris Broussard.

The 49-year-old NBA analyst is sticking with the Cavaliers as his pick to progress from the East, but believes at the moment the 76ers are clearly the better team. He also picked Ben Simmons as the point guard in the Eastern Conference putting him ahead of Boston Celtics’ 2016 NBA Final winner Kyrie Irving.

The Celtics guard is widely considered one of the best in the game in his position, but Broussard believes 21-year-old Simmons is arguably the best at the moment. Irving is currently out injured and will not return to action until next season.

The 76ers point guard played a key role in helping his team win 16 straight games in the regular season to snatch third place ahead of the Cavaliers. Simmons also played a starring role in helping the Philadelphia franchise progress to the playoff semi-finals with a dominant 4-1 win over the Miami Heat on Tuesday night. He was leading his team in total points, assists, steals and rebounds after four games.

The Australian became the fifth rookie in NBA history to record a triple-double in the playoffs in the Game 4 win over Miami. The 21-year-old is in contention for the Rookie of the Season alongside Utah Jazz’s Donovan Mitchell.

However, there is a debate among current and former players about his eligibility as he joined the 76ers in 2016, but failed to play the entire season owing to a serious foot injury only to make his first appearance at the start of the 2017 regular season.

“I’ve picked the Cleveland Cavaliers to win the East and I’m sticking with that pick but if I was dropped down from Mars right now and I looked at the teams in the East right now, I wouldn’t even think twice after watching them as to who’s the best team,” Broussard said on First Things First, as quoted by the Express.

“The Sixers have everything. They’ve got the best big man in the conference by far; they’ve got a great point guard and I could argue he’s the best point guard in the conference and that includes Kyrie Irving who is more of a scorer. They’ve got great three-point shooting. They’re fifth in three-point shooting in the league since the All-Star break,” the sports analyst added. “They play great defence. They were third in the league defensively and some people might overlook that.”

The 76ers have a young roster and were not expected to steamroll the Heat in the first round of the playoffs. They won 104-91 in Game 5 to wrap up the first round playoffs Tuesday night and await one of the Boston Celtics or the Milwaukee Bucks in the semi-finals with the former currently leading 3-2 after five games.