Simmons says his beef with Dudley is 'done'

Brooklyn Nets forward Jared Dudley may have poked the bear when he called Ben Simmons "average" in half-court situations prior to Thursday night's tilt.

The Philadelphia 76ers star responded with a 31-point, nine-assist, four-rebound, three-block performance in Game 3, while Dudley was scoreless in 17 minutes played. But Simmons wasn't gloating postgame after the veteran's less than memorable performance.

"I don't have energy for that," Simmons said, according to ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "Honestly. It's done. People are going to say what they want to say. It is what it is. I just got to play."

While Simmons let his game do most of the talking, there were a couple of instances during Thursday's game in which his beef with Dudley appeared alive and well.

In the third quarter, Simmons appeared to share a chuckle after Dudley was called for a personal foul and just a few minutes later, the Aussie native stared down Dudley after the latter air-balled a 3-point attempt.

Dudley didn't add fuel to the fire following Thursday's contest, but stood by his previous comments regarding his counterpart.

"If you look at the whole quote - you can look at it if need be, justifying his game or what you want to do - would you rather guard him in the full court going 100 miles an hour? Or would you rather guard him half court?" Dudley said. "So I feel real confident when I'm in there guarding against him, but you got to give credit. He played phenomenal. The whole team played phenomenal, and they deserved this win."

Game 4 is Saturday afternoon in Brooklyn.