It was 50 years ago Thursday that Julius Erving made his Sixers home debut at the Spectrum in his first NBA game.
Dr. J was still in his prime at 26 and coming off three straight ABA MVPs while playing for the New York Nets. Erving began that season coming off the bench and only played 16 minutes in a 121-118 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on opening night.
While LeBron James is closer to the twilight of his career at 41 years old, the excitement was palpable as the unretired Matt Cord introduced arguably
the greatest basketball player of all time as a Philadelphia 76er for the first time.
“It was everything that I dreamed of and more,” James said at his overpopulated locker stall postgame.
James got the whole Philly experience — including being booed by his own fans as the Sixers found themselves down 29.
But the team overcame 15 first-half turnovers and rallied after halftime to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers in a historic 114-106 comeback win at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
“Got the boos. That was amazing. We deserved it,” he said. “And then we got the cheers and almost blew the roof off this thing tonight — in a good way. It was a hell of a night.”
Philly is a basketball town, but its relationship with its professional basketball team had soured to the point of apathy. Even the goodwill from overcoming a 3-1 deficit and defeating the rival Boston Celtics in the postseason for the first time in over 40 years subsided after a sweep by the New York Knicks.
The offseason was littered with questions that had no easy answers. The franchise was locked into two separate timelines. Daryl Morey extended Joel Embiid and signed veteran Paul George to a max deal. He also drafted two young guards in Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe. On top of that, there was work to be done to build a deeper bench.
New president of basketball operations Mike Gansey transformed the roster in short order by pulling off the shocking blockbuster to land Jaylen Brown from the Celtics, which led to his pursuit of James. None of it felt real. It still kind of doesn’t.
The Sixers aren’t supposed to have nice things. The vibes are so high, fans are waiting for the other shoe to drop. What hellish response to all this positivity will come from this monkey’s paw-ridden franchise?
But there wasn’t time to get to that negative space Thursday … well, at least not in the second half.
As the Sixers mounted their comeback, they looked almost unstoppable. Comebacks are a frequent occurrence in the modern NBA. With the three-ball becoming king and analytics ruling the day, teams will play the math game and start bombing away to cut into a big deficit.
But this comeback was unique in that the Sixers were abysmal from deep. They were just 7-of-25 from three on the night. They clawed away at the Cavs’ lead by playing aggressive defense and getting out in transition. It feels like a winning formula for Nick Nurse’s group. If they can force turnovers and get stops, good luck stopping them on the break.
Through two games, it’s been an interesting offensive ecosystem. There’s still work to be done, but you could see in the second half how organically it went, with each star having their moment. Joel Embiid had one in the fourth quarter, his first true flurry of the young season. It helped put the Sixers in front.
At one point, a “Trust the Process” broke out as Embiid was at the line.
We don’t need to rehash this guy’s entire journey from navicular bone fractures to start his career until now, but what a ride.
“I’ve been here for a long time,” Embiid said. “That was probably … not the best night, but that was probably a top-five night for me since I’ve been in Philadelphia. That was great. I have no words. That was amazing. Obviously, we don’t want to be down 29 points like we were early on. We got a few boos, but then again, they came right back up to support us. But that was probably [one of the] top-three nights for me since I’ve been here.”
Erving would work his way into the starting lineup that first season and finished fifth in MVP voting. More importantly, he led the Sixers to the NBA Finals, helping stake them to a 2-0 series lead over the Portland Trail Blazers. Sixers fans of a certain age will remember the heartbreak that followed.
A Finals trip would be a strong introductory season for James in Philly. Hell, the franchise’s first Eastern Conference Finals berth in over 25 years would be nice.
For now, it’s simply two wins, but the word “special” is being thrown around a bunch — with good reason.
Even at 41 and in his 24th season, it was a special night for LeBron James.
“This is my fourth time being able to have a home opener for a different franchise,” he said. “It’s great to be able to go out and just do what I love to do and just be well received. My daughter was here. She turned 12 today. They put her name up and told her happy birthday on the jumbotron. They sat courtside. That was super cool, man. Mom was here as well.
“So, super special for me to be able to have moments like this in this building, in this city, probably one of the best sports cities in the world, along with a couple other cities, but Philly is damn sure right up at the top. So I’m happy to be here. Extremely happy. I’m happy to be with these boys in this locker room. Hopefully, we continue to do something special throughout the season.”
