It might as well had been an unofficial Joel Embiid Night down at Wells Fargo Center.
That's because the 76ers fans showed him some love Thursday night during his long-awaited home debut. It was a night when the 7-foot-2, 276-pounder displayed both rust and promise.
He finished with five points on 2-for-6 shooting and had three rebounds, a block and a turnover in 12 minutes, 16 seconds of action in a 125-119 preseason home opening double-overtime loss to Washington.
Embiid received a standing ovation during pregame introductions. There was a huge applause when he made his first basket at the 8-minute, 20-second mark of the first quarter.