For the fans at the 76ers’ stunning win in the home opener, LeBron James was the star
"I need a little hate," James once said. He couldn't find any in South Philly Thursday night.
Local sports fans, who this month have been watching their hopes fade faster than the October daylight, got an improbable and dramatic respite on the night that a 41-year-old NBA megastar on his way to the Hall of Fame made his home debut as a 76er.
He may not have been the star of the game, but LeBron James clearly was the star among the fans who watched a spectacular second-half surge overcome a dismal first half in which King James committed five of the Sixers 15 turnovers. But the 76ers stunningly overcame a 29-point deficit en route to a 114-106 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, something that not even James, who sparked the comeback, had experienced in his career.
A raucous, emotionally spent crowd at Xfinity Mobile Arena went off singing and hugging each other as they headed to the exits. Said Rodney Anderson, of Abington, who let out a loud “WOO” on the concourse: “Actual defense? The focus, the intensity? I’m loving it.”
Of Philadelphia fans, James once remarked that he so appreciated their passionate dislike of him, saying, “I need a little hate.”
He would have had a hard time finding even a little hate in South Philly (for the record, President Donald Trump was not in attendance) or anywhere in the vicinity of the sports complex.
Thanks to James’ acquisition, the 76ers — who haven’t won an NBA title since Ronald Reagan was president (1982-83), and 18 months before LeBron was born — fans’ comments Thursday night suggested that the Sixers now are the bearers of a sports-obsessed region’s expectations.
“We have championship experience from the greatest player of all time, LeBron James,” Adam Holland, a Sixers fan from Sicklerville, N.J., said at Stateside Live! before the game. “And honestly, I see us beating the Thunder in the Western Conference Finals in six games.”
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No pressure, LeBron.
Sami Qasim, 20, said it was “surreal” to see James suit up for his team, and believes a banner is coming soon.
“I think we’re champions already,” he said.
Well, maybe not yet,
But for Philadelphia fans experiencing a dark night of the sports soul, it is understandable that expectation is looking way better than reality.
“Hopefully, they can bring us out of this dark month we had,” said Christian Paoletti, who lives in New Jersey.
To recap, the Phillies fell feebly to the Atlanta Braves in the playoffs. The Flyers started the season with a nine-game winless streak. And the Eagles, a team that had Super Bowl ambitions, bumbled through two wins, lost four on a row, and then lost their star quarterback for the season after he developed blood clots.
Enter King James.
King James first appeared in Philadelphia in 2002 as an ultraconfident 17-year-old high schooler.,
A year later as an NBA rookie for the Cavaliers, already hawking his own name-brand sneakers and declaring himself a “natural-born leader,” James led Cleveland to an 88-81 victory over the Sixers at what was then the Wachovia Center, snapping a 34-game road losing streak.
Sixers fans are now hoping he can snap the team’s 43-year title-less streak. More like counting on him.
Asked what he expects, Paoletti said simply, “A championship, truly, hopefully a championship.”
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Some fans said they had seen enough already with the Sixers’ win Tuesday night over the defending champion New York Knicks.
“We’re the new champs,” declared South Philly’s Ryan Brooks. “We took their rings. We put them on our finger, and we’re going to keep doing it all season.”
Amir Dailey, who grew up in Philly, and his fiancée, Tiffany Rodriguez, came all the way from Virginia Beach to see LeBron’s debut. They also loved what they saw in the Knicks game, which Dailey watched “nose to the TV.”
He said it’s a good thing the next-door neighbors weren’t around, because they weren’t being quiet about what they were seeing.
One of the fans wearing a LeBron jersey was Halley Ye, 33. He’s from Shanghai, about 7,500 miles from South Philly and was on an East Coast tour, his last stop being the Xfinity Mobile Arena.
“We got here yesterday,” Ye said. “Just to see LeBron.”
Rooting for LeBron is somewhat of a conversion experience for Jose Santiago, 27, of Pennsauken, a lifelong Sixers fan.
Santiago said he had no problem with jumping onto the James bandwagon.
“I mean, honestly, not that hard when it comes to LeBron,” he said.
“I don’t mind it,” said Evan Medley. “Come on over. If you want to bandwagon, then bandwagon.”
