2016-10-27

12:12 AM ET

PHILADELPHIA — Joel Embiid‘s long-anticipated debut delighted 76ers fans on Wednesday night, even in a loss.

Playing in his first regular-season NBA game after missing his first two seasons due to two surgeries on his right foot, Embiid drew oohs and ahhs from the home crowd — even on missed shots — by flashing the versatile potential that made him the third overall pick in 2014.

More important, though, was the fact that the 7-footer got up and was OK after taking a hard spill in the second half while fouled in transition. His fall drew a collective arena-wide gasp from the Philadelphia faithful.

Embiid kept playing, and he finished with 20 points, seven rebounds and two blocks in a 103-99 Sixers loss to the Thunder.

Embiid played two minutes over his game restriction of 20 and accomplished his first personal goal of the season.

“Uh, finish the game healthy,” Embiid said when asked what he wanted to see in his first pro game.

Following the loss, Embiid took to Twitter to thank the Philly faithful for sticking with him.

Man the fans showed so much love… I freaking LOVE YALL!!!! TRUST THE PROCESS pic.twitter.com/zXvwo28naY

— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) October 27, 2016

It’s been an emotional journey for Embiid and the Sixers, who have endured three rebuilding seasons and a total of 199 losses over those three years that have enabled the team to draft the likes of Embiid, Ben Simmons and Jahlil Okafor. The Sixers drafted Embiid in 2014, but the raw center had to undergo two surgeries on his right foot before finally taking the court this season.

“There are times when I get emotional, like watching him today walk around in shootaround and you see how [all the arena] seats with white shirts placed on them, and it’s opening night, and Joel Embiid is here,” Sixers coach Brett Brown said before the game. “I lived every second of that journey with him, good times and bad, and for him to arrive now here … knowing the work and uncertainty and the emotional strain that he went through, wondering if he would play again, to see him arrive, it is a special night.”

The Sixers wanted to restrict Embiid’s minutes to 20 and Okafor’s minutes to 12 for the game to maintain the health of their two young pillars, with fellow talented prospects Nerlens Noel and Simmons out with injuries.

“If you went into my office you would see it is a Rubik’s Cube,” Brown said of his minutes plan. “I need an abacus.”

The way Embiid looked in his debut, opponents might need a complicated formula for figuring out how to stop the talented big man in the years to come. The 7-footer displayed all of his potential, from putting the ball on the floor like a small forward to hitting a 3-pointer to a dizzying array of back-to-the-basket moves.

Embiid drew cheers on a missed shot when he pump-faked a 3 before putting the ball on the floor, crossing over, backing in a defender, shaking his back and showing the ball with one hand, like Hakeem Olajuwon used to do. It might have been the most exciting miss Philadelphia has seen in years.



Sixers rookie Ben Simmons said that as soon as doctors tell him his foot is healthy enough to play, he’ll be back on the court.



A 76ers fan was ejected from the team’s season opener against the Thunder on Wednesday for making an inappropriate gesture at Oklahoma City star Russell Westbrook.



Sevyn Streeter, who was scheduled to sing the national anthem before Wednesday’s Sixers season opener, says she was told by the team she could not perform because of her “We Matter” jersey.

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“We have been through 52 players, in my three years, not including the ones that are still here,” Brown said. “Only 11 are still in the NBA. Think of that.”

Embiid, though, might have made fans appreciate the losses it took to get him and get to this point.

He scored his first basket to a roar on a 16-foot shake-and-bake turnaround jumper with 8:17 left in the first quarter.

Seconds later, Embiid emphatically blocked Russell Westbrook in the lane, and the arena exploded.

He buried his first 3-pointer with 7:12 to go in the second. By the early moments of the fourth quarter, Embiid stood at the free throw line and was serenaded with chants of “Trust the process!” by Sixers fans referring to the mantra that became popular during former general manager Sam Hinkie’s long rebuild.

Embiid also showed no fear down the stretch in a tight game. He drained a 14-footer over Steven Adams with 3:26 left to give the Sixers a 93-90 lead. And with 50.7 seconds to go, Embiid knocked down another short jumper to tie the game at 97.

The Sixers called on Embiid’s number again, needing a basket to tie the game, but he missed a contested drive to the rim. Later, while down by four points, Embiid drove the lane and scored but was called for an offensive foul with 5.2 seconds left.

Embiid would have liked to have won his pro debut, but he knows how far he has come just to be able to play this game.

“You think about what you have gone through the last three years, having to get surgery, all the ups and downs,” Embiid said. “But I try to stay away from [thinking about that].”

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