Prepared for you each week, highlighting headlines, observations, and other anecdotes surrounding the 76ers.
1. Ringin' em home
You would've been hard-pressed to find two more perfect bell ringers to bookend Opening Night than marquee off-season additions Al Horford and Josh Richardson. The indoctrinations were the perfect way to officially tip off the latest chapters of Horford's and Richardson's respective careers.
Specific to Richardson, his first regular season outing as a 76er was terrific. He manufactured a game-high plus-22 rating, scored 17 points, took on ball-handling responsibilities when Ben Simmons was on the bench, and helped keep All-Star Kemba Walker under wraps.
"Tried to use my size advantage," said the 6-foot-5 Richardson. "I'm a few inches taller than him, so using my length on all of his shots, trying to bring hands around into his vision. It's never easy to shoot over that. He's one of the best players in the league. You got to just try and make it tough on him."
And that's exactly what Richardson did. For his efforts, Brett Brown tapped him as the first post-game victory bell ringer of the year.
Only here for about a month, Richardson is digging his new surroundings.
Richardson credited his teammates for making his regular season debut "easy." His focus was to go out and compete.
"We're going to play the way we know how to," said Richardson. "We've got 17 guys who can contribute who are tough players, who are hard-nosed players. That's Philly. I think they'll appreciate that."
Amen.
2. Ben Ballin'
Throughout training camp and the preseason, Ben Simmons sounded like a man on a mission.
Then, in the Sixers' 107-93 victory over the Boston Celtics, he went out and played like one.
Of the Aussie's team-high 24 points, 22 of them came in the paint. As of Friday, that mark tied for the highest single-game total of Opening Week.
Simmons really started to pick it up offensively late in Wednesday's second half, when the Sixers were searching for a spark. Throughout the night, especially in the fourth quarter as well, punishing finishes were the name of his game.
Brett Brown attributed Simmons' impact to his approach.
"He is just so gifted physically, but it’s also his mentality," Brown said. "You take that 6-10 body and that athleticism, that physical tank-like mentality, and it’s an alpha combination.
"In-large, I thought he had an excellent game, and I especially liked his mindset physically. He was trying to put his thumbprint on the game from a physical standpoint."
And Simmons did just that, to great success.
3. High Praise
Al Horford is now in his 13th NBA season, Tobias Harris his ninth. Based on tenure in the league, they're the two most veteran members of the 76ers' roster.
Both guys have been around and know what's what. When they speak, their words carry the weight of perspective that's been informed by experience, which made their comments about Ben Simmons' Opening Night performance that much more significant.
After getting traded from the LA Clippers to the 76ers, Harris spent three months with Simmons as teammate. The duo then trained together over the summer.
That some of Simmons' signature skills were so effective Wednesday wasn't a surprise to Harris.
"Who needs to be reminded?," he said. "Not me."
And that's the thing.
The league knows what Simmons can do. Stopping that, however, is another matter entirely.
4. Speaking of...
Tobias Harris, he had a mighty fine first game, racking up 15 points, 15 rebounds, four assists, and two steals.
With Horford now in the mix, Harris' assignments, of course, will be slightly different this year. Instead of playing exclusively in the frontcourt, as he did after joining the Sixers last season, Harris now starts at the three, then slides to the four when Joel Embiid leaves the floor.
Everything seemed to work out well against Boston.
"I think with everybody we have on this team, there's going to have to be a balance that has to be figured out throughout the whole year," Harris said. "My whole mindset was try to do whatever you can to uplift the team, try to do whatever you can to help our team win."
Harris became the 12th player in franchise history to begin a new season with a 15-point, 15-rebound game.
"I found a way to get to the glass, get rebounds, and push it and make open shots. When you look at the talented group we have, there's going to be a lot of open looks and mismatches we can go to over the course of a game. Being able to find where your spots are in the flow of a game is the biggest thing."
5. You started feeling good when…
The first two quarters of Wednesday's opener was, no doubt, a battle. The Sixers and Celtics both seemed to be finding their way in the early going, and the defense for each squad was solid.
Even though the Sixers got the lead up to double-digits in the third quarter, Boston charged back. At least for yours truly, it wasn't until Furkan Korkmaz and Tobias Harris nailed consecutive 3-pointers out of a timeout in the fourth period that you started to feel the Sixers had the game in their control.
For Korkmaz in particular, Wednesday's tilt was noteworthy. He was a plus-3 in 19 minutes off the bench, and, in addition to his triple, supplied four rebounds.
Korkmaz's role was limited down the stretch of last season (only once logging 19+ minutes after Feb. 1), but this fall, Brett Brown envisions a place for the 22-year old. The head coach wants to see him make shots.
It's something the Sixers will continue to look at closely now that the regular season is underway. In his first opportunity, Korkmaz delivered.
"We drew up a play and there's lots of pieces to it," said Brown. "It left Furk open, and it's sort of the ripple effects of the motion and movement we hope the play can produce. I thought that was a timely basket."
6. An iconic fashion statement
Michael Jordan is one of Allen Iverson's all-time favorite players. But that wasn't the inspiration behind the Answer donning a fresh new no. 23 Classic Edition Seventy Sixers jersey at Wednesday's opener.
No, A.I. was indeed reppin' the current no. 23 on the Sixers' roster, Trey Burke.
Iverson's influence on Burke has been well-documented. At first, the 26-year old didn't even realize what Iverson had on.
"He had called me over there and I said what's up to him," Burke said. "Then five minutes later, somebody came up to me and said, 'Look at his jersey.' That's when I noticed it."
Going back to his days growing up in Columbus, OH, Burke would study film of Iverson religiously. He currently has a shoe deal with Reebok, wears the Questions regularly, and said seeing Iverson support him so outwardly was "surreal."
7.6 Benefiting from the Blue Coats
Before leaving on Friday for a two-game road trip, the 76ers announced plans for Zhaire Smith and Marial Shayok to join Delaware Blue Coats training camp, which opens next week. Norvel Pelle, who is scheduled to travel to Detroit and Atlanta, might participate as well, depending on the Sixers' roster needs.
Brett Brown believes a lot of good can come from these assignments.
"They're going to be in an environment that they're going to be playing more," he said. "The system's very integrated, they're very closely connected with a coach [Connor Johnson] who was my assistant. The attention that we give the Blue Coast from our side and the appreciation and working relationship - same words, same system, same type of philosophy - it's a great relationship and I think beneficial for [our players]."
7.1 In this week's edition of the Good On Ya Department, Tobias Harris walks the talk.
7.2 If you missed our season hype video, there's still plenty of time - and reason - to get...hype.
7.3 The 14-point win on Opening Night was the Sixers' largest margin of victory against the Boston Celtics in 31 regular season games, dating back to a Sixers' 32-point triumph in March of 2012.
7.4 On our latest pod, I sit down with Tom McGinnis and Devon Givens to forecast the season. Check it out here, and subscribe to our feed.
7.5 Embedding another piece of ICYMI content...and Brad Stevens made this statement before his squad took the floor against the Sixers in Wednesday's opener.
7.6 Matisse Thybulle found himself in some rare company following Wednesday's game.
Asked to evaluate his contributions, Thybulle said he wanted to build upon his preseason, and "be able to create plays and force turnovers.""To do that at this level is pretty exciting."