The Sixer Sense
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The Sixers Had a Lot of Fun on Friday Night

By Josh Wilson

Feb 17, 2017; New Orleans, LA, USA; World Team guard Buddy Hield of the New Orleans Pelicans (25), World Team forward Kristaps Porzingis of the New York Knicks (6), World Team center Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets (15) and World Team forward Dario Saric of the Philadelphia 76ers (9) during the Rising Stars Challenge at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 17, 2017; New Orleans, LA, USA; World Team guard Buddy Hield of the New Orleans Pelicans (25), World Team forward Kristaps Porzingis of the New York Knicks (6), World Team center Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets (15) and World Team forward Dario Saric of the Philadelphia 76ers (9) during the Rising Stars Challenge at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Philadelphia 76ers were well represented on Friday night during NBA All-Star weekend, and had a lot of fun during the festivities.

The NBA All-Star weekend was not too friendly to the Philadelphia 76ers just a few weeks ago, with the Sixers’ rookie big man Joel Embiid getting snubbed of being selected to the All-Star team, with Paul Millsap getting a spot on the team in front of Embiid.

Fans were up in arms about this, but Embiid went into this weekend unable to participate in the two events he was able to participate in anyway — the Rising Stars Challenge and the Skills Challenge. He has a slightly torn meniscus and a bone bruise that he is dealing with.

Despite that, the Sixers are pretty well represented throughout the weekend, with almost all of their representation coming on Friday night. The Sixers had three players selected to the Rising Stars Challenge — Dario Saric, Jahlil Okafor, and Joel Embiid. Embiid, of course, would sit out, but Saric and Okafor played. Saric had a pretty big game, helping World win 150-141 over Okafor’s USA team.

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Above all, including the win for a Sixers guy (well, no matter how it played out, a Sixers player was going to win last night), it was good to see the Sixers’ young guys represented. The Sixers have had a fair amount of players go through the Rising Stars Challenge in the past few years, and certainly hope to have more next year as well. But pretty soon it will be time for the Sixers to have players in other events — the Dunk Contest, 3-point shootout, and of course, the All-Star game.

That time will come. Embiid said to Marc Stein before the Rising Stars Challenge that next year he wants to participate in everything except for the Dunk Contest. Ben Simmons said in a Twitter video yesterday that he hopes and believes this is his last year throughout his career away from the All-Star game.

But for now, the Sixers have fun.

Following the win for Dario, Sixers guard Nik Stauskas — who has done some work during the breaks and during the offseason as a journalist — interviewed his teammate Dario Saric in a fun little way.

They discussed his performance, a playoff push, and Saric complimented Sauce Castillo on his interviewing skills.

Before the game, Embiid tossed food to Dario to catch in his mouth. Can you say Trust the Friendship?

And during media availability, Embiid talked a Chinese media outlet that told him he had reached the China market by a great amount. His nickname over there is “The Emperor.”

And during the game, Embiid Tweeted out that he was on the bench and would let the world know who was getting “cooked.”

In previous years, the Sixers may have had fun with their roster, but not out in the open for us to see firsthand like this year. It’s great to see this team coming together as teammates and as friends, and I really hope the All-Star weekend is a great event for Philly for years to come.