His outstanding performance against his former employers ended up being in vain.
Aamir Simms’s career night not enough for shorthanded Reyer
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3 Mins read
Aamir Simms made Paris Basketball fans reminisce about just how good he was last season with an incredible display against the French side on Wednesday night, but his nearly historic showing was not enough for Umana Reyer Venice to secure the win.
Simms poured in 28 points to go with 10 rebounds and 4 assists for a performance index ranking of 40 in Reyer’s 75-81 home loss to Paris. Following this defeat, Reyer has dropped 0-2.
Aamir Simms made history
The 24-year-old, who averaged 12.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists last season for the French side, nearly set a new Reyer record, too. His PIR of 40 is ranked second all-time behind only Michael Green’s 42 during the 2015-16 season.
Simms wasn’t the only Reyer player who had an excellent game. Amedeo Tessitori scored a career-high 21 points in addition to posting 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Rayjon Tucker also added 16 points and Jordan Parks had 8 points. The only other player to score was Alexander O’Connell, who hit a jumper for 2 points in just 18 seconds of action.
O’Connell did not play the rest of the game due to an injury as he became the latest absence for Reyer. After all, Marco Spissu was out injured, as was Giga Janelidze. Kyle Wiltjer, too, was unavailable after his wife had a baby in the United States.
Head coach Neven Spahija said he was satisfied with his team’s performance, however, as his group stuck with a strong Paris team for three quarters before losing the final frame 25-15.
“The last quarter was the key… With this effort, I cannot say a word,” said Coach Spahija. “It’s impossible to play the game without players. We have a short roster and then inside the short roster we lost players like Marco, Wiltjer. Giga can help if someone is hurt. He’s hurt, too.
“And then Alexander O’Connell, who played 22 minutes the last [Italian League] game, played 18 seconds. I apologized to everybody, but this is not a normal condition to play basketball.”
The coach also gave his word to the Reyer fans that the team will be better.
“I am so sorry for the people in the arena. But I promise the next time we come back and play all together, we will be way better.”