Oct 30, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard Michael Carter-Williams (1) is defended by Miami Heat guard Norris Cole (30) during the fourth quarter at Wells Fargo Center. The Sixers defeated the Heat 114-110. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports
I….I…..THE SIXERS BEAT THE HEAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On the night that Philadelphia saw Allen Iverson officially retire from basketball, Andrew Bynum play basketball, and Doug Collins sitting at the Wells Fargo Center, the Sixers defeated the Heat. I had to wait a few hours after this game finished to get this post up, my caps lock button wouldn’t turn off. I can’t believe what I witnessed tonight, the Sixers had lost their past 15 regular season contests against the Heat. HOW DID THEY PULL THIS ONE OFF?
I mean, it started off with a 19-0 lead that dwindled down to a one point lead at half. Okay, we all thought, “That was awesome, but we’re probably going to lose this game.” When we relinquished the lead to Lebron James and company, I honestly didn’t think we would ever regain it. Especially after giving up a 45 point third quarter to the Heat, I was positive it was over. It was a nice run, but this game was done. BOY, was I wrong. Not only would the Sixers reclaim the lead, they would WIN THE GAME!
Michael Carter-Williams had a NBA record performance in his debut, recording a state line of 22 points, 7 rebounds, 12 assists and 9 steals. The nine steals set an NBA record for a debut performance. Carter-Williams fell a steal short of joining Oscar Robertson as the only player in NBA history to record a triple double in a debut performance. More importantly, Carter-Williams had only one turnover to his 12 assists. I know this is only a one game sample, but it’s the best one game sample one can have. Michael Carter-Williams might be driving the tank to a championship in the future instead of driving the tank of destruction. Pretty sure we all forgot about Jrue after this one, even though Jrue didn’t forget about us.
Carter-Williams jump shot has been criticized heavily ever since he’s been drafted. Everyone says great things about him, but they always end with “but he can’t shoot.” Well, isn’t that funny. Carter-Williams was 6-10 from the field and an impressive 4-6 from deep. The guy with no jump shot, the guy with the broken jumper, shot 67 percent from deep against the two time defending NBA champions. That’s right, this guy is not a joke. Michael Carter-Williams is the real deal and he proved it tonight on the biggest stage.
Philadelphia might also want to reconsider all the booing towards one Evan Turner after his performance tonight. Turner had 26 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds. Turner missed some key buckets down the stretch, but really showed that he is capable of being the veteran leader of this team. Turner went 6-6 from the charity stripe, knocking down two important FT’s in the final minute to seal the deal against the Heat. As I’ve been saying all off season, Turner is finally out of excuses this season. He has no reason not to dominate and he dominated the game in impressive fashion tonight.
Spencer Hawes also continued his trend of dominating in season openers. Hawes had 24 points and 9 rebounds on 10-14 shooting. I doubt this will be a reoccurring theme, but hell, WE BEAT THE HEAT. Anything is possible, that’s right, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE! Lets note that Tony Wroten added 14 points off the bench on 6-9 shooting (1-3 from deep).
I still can’t believe I’m writing this story. I didn’t even want to do a post game before this game started, because I thought I knew what it was going to be. This might be as good as it gets for the Sixers this season, but my god, was it good. Twitter literally exploded, it was amazing. Before tonight, we were all screaming for the Sixers to lose every single game. Tonight? Everyone on twitter was screaming for a victory and lost their voices when the final buzzer read Sixers 114, Heat 110. This was like David vs Goliath, and David won again.
Pour out the champagne Philadelphia, take this one in. Scream this with me: WE BEAT THE HEAT!!!!!!!!
Will Michael-Carter Williams win Rookie of the Year?
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