PHILADELPHIA — For nearly a month now, the energy had been building. It began as it often does: first hope, then expectation, then demand, then desperation, all of it underpinned by the flippant defiance of a city that has long prided itself on its opposition to the world.
To understand the energy, you need to understand this foundation. Sports in this town are as much a neurosis as they are a form of entertainment. Philly versus Everybody is not just a T-shirt. It is an identity. And, like a lot of identities, it is a veil for a deeper truth. Because what Philly loves more than anything is when Everybody jumps on board.
On Wednesday night, the top finally blew off. After four years of losing, and four years of angst, and six months of rejection by a player to whom the city had offered its world, and two weeks of hectic trade-deadline maneuvering followed by another two weeks of waiting, the saturation point arrived in the form of a standing-room-only-party where the seats were only nominally for sitting down.
Officially, the guest of honor was James Harden, an NBA all-time great making his home debut nearly three weeks after the blockbuster trade that brought him to town. But by the end of a 123-108 victory over the Knicks that saw Harden score 26 points and flirt with a triple-double, the man in the center of the arena almost felt like an afterthought. This was more about the 20,000 or so lining the walls.
“The love, the fans, it feels like home,” Harden said. “Just the love, the support, man, from looking around, hearing, ‘We love you, James.’ That right there makes me go out and play harder, and I just wanted to do whatever it takes to get the win.”
There are teams and there are Teams. The best time to be a sports fan in the city of Philadelphia is when the former becomes the latter. That transition is where the true impact of Harden’s arrival lies. The most recent equivalent — maybe the only one — occurred back in the winter of 2010, when Cliff Lee decided he’d rather play here and the national agenda was suddenly wearing red pinstripes.
There have been other moments when the city has seized the spotlight: Allen Iverson in Hollywood, Brad Lidge on his knees, Nick Foles and Philly Special. These were iconic moments, definitive even, some of the greatest days for a local sports fan to be alive. But those 2011 Phillies were the Beatles, and that season was a 162-game party through the States. There were headlines and cover stories and Sunday tailgates that had no start or end. And, yeah, it ended in tragedy, but it was the buildup that made such a letdown possible, and that made the fallout feel so lasting. A decade later, the memories of 2011 still haunt the echoes of 2008.
“People want to see greatness,” Sixers forward Matisse Thybulle said on Wednesday morning, eight hours before tipoff. “To bring a great player to a great team and turn us into a contender — Philly has always rolled with us pretty hard, but I think having a championship be so tangible now has really upped the ante.”
Perhaps this is an exorcism, then. All around the city, you are starting to see it, the iconography reappearing, the bartenders and retail clerks and city workers rolling up to work in the red and the white and the blue, chins high and chests out, everyone well aware that the game’s done changed.
In the days leading up to Harden’s debut, Sixers players and staffers found themselves bombarded by friends and friends of friends and a few random numbers, all united by the fear of having to watch from the outside. Those who got into the building seemed on the verge of exhaustion by the time the opening tip arrived. For one half, the same sentiment manifested on the court, the Knicks jumping out to an early lead against a lackluster defense.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” Doc Rivers said afterward, a sentiment he and his players have repeated a number of times during the Sixers’ 3-0 start with Harden.
That’s not a soft sell by any stretch. On Wednesday night, they made it clear they are a team with holes. You saw Harden trying to orchestrate on offense while surrounded by the likes of Furkan Korkmaz, Shake Milton, and Paul Millsap. You saw a glaring need for another shooter capable of consistently knocking down catch-and-shoot 3s. You saw Harden lacking a little bit of that explosive first step he had before his hamstring began causing him trouble. It’s difficult to build an ideal team during a season. The smart money remains against them. At least for this year.
But the potential is just as real. Only three games into Harden’s Sixers career, the new starting lineup is outscoring opponents by an average of 35 points per 100 possessions. Joel Embiid looks more unstoppable than he ever has, and Tyrese Maxey is looking more like a star with every game he plays.
Embiid, Harden, and Maxey have each scored at least 20 points in each of the three games they played together. Do the Sixers have holes? Sure. But they also have the sort of top-end talent that can make holes not matter.
“I think when you get a guy like James and Joel together with all of our other guys, our guys sense it too,” Rivers said. “Not the hoopla, but that you have a real shot. And you don’t get many of these. ... Someone’s going to get it together, and we’re hoping it’s us.”
The players aren’t the only ones who sense it. These Sixers have a chance to be a national phenomenon. And the city of Philadelphia is all aboard.
