It’s been a tough season for Markelle Fultz. He’s spent his rookie year with the Philadelphia 76ers on injury reserve, missing the last 68 games for the team.
Tonight, he finally stepped on to the court to good reception.
The crowd at Philly’s Wells Fargo Center arena gave Fultz a standing ovation as he checked into the game with about 2:54 left in the first quarter. The cheering continued throughout the game, whenever he touched the ball and scored, dished out an assist or pushed the ball upcourt. It got to the point they were chanting “FULTZ!” as he entered the game from a timeout.
He finished the game with 10 points and 8 assists off the bench, showing flashes of why he was the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft.
And that shot that looked so ugly for a bulk of the season? It doesn’t looked so broken anymore and actually went in from mid-range.
You know, besides those first jumpers which bricked.
Joel Embiid finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds and Ben Simmons only scored 7 points, but also had 13 rebounds, as well as 11 assists.
The Denver Nuggets have continued to lose games in the final stretch and have slid in the Western Conference standings, now two games out from the eighth and final playoff spot behind the Minnesota Timberwolves and Utah Jazz.
Meanwhile, “The Process” maintains the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference, one game behind the Cleveland Cavaliers as the postseason nears.
Will the Sixers be a scary threat to knockout one of the top teams in the east?