Philadelphia 76ers: The crowd is in Markelle Fultz’s corner

Philadelphia 76ers fans have patiently waited for their 2017 No.1 overall pick, Markelle Fultz, to progress into the player they drafted him to be. The crowd in Philly knows it’s just the beginning and has Markelle’s back through the process.

It has been yet again, another long process for a 76ers No.1 overall pick to get back onto the court. Markelle Fultz is playing this year with his fixed jumper. The 20-year-old has made incredible progress from a year ago and the crowd loves it.

In the Philadelphia 76ers home opener Tuesday night they blew out the Chicago Bulls in a 127-108 victory.  Markelle Fultz had himself a promising game, racking up 12 points, four rebounds, five assists and two steals while shooting 5-15 from the field in 32 minutes. Fultz made headlines by making his first three-pointer in a regular season game.

Fultz’s performance comes as no surprise to him but the Sixers fans at Wells Fargo loved it on Tuesday night.

A few minutes into the first quarter, Joel Embiid grabbed a rebound and passed it to Ben Simmons to set themselves up in their lethal transition game. Markelle Fultz runs into the left corner, that we have come to see he favors, and catches the ball wide open behind the arc… and catches the ball and drives in and passes to Dario Saric, who airballed an 11-footer.

I was very surprised that Markelle passed up that shot. He hit from the left corner a few times during the preseason from that same spot. My guess is that it was his first home game this year and he had a little bit of the jitters, especially since the game hadn’t even elapsed two minutes of game time.

Markelle is a great playmaker so he does not always have a “shoot first” mentality. Since he returned to action last spring Markelle has had a 4.2 (59-14) assist-turnover ratio which is incredible. So even if he passes up shots fans know Fultz can make plays.

You could tell that everyone in the building wanted Fultz to make shots. Every time he caught the ball the crowd would erupt, waiting for their guy to get a bucket.

It did not take Fultz too much longer to get into a rhythm.  With about 9:20 left in the second quarter, Markelle used Amir Johnson‘s free throw line screen to side-step into his first made jump shot at home this season. The Center went nuts, giving him a standing ovation. The place was practically shaking. The ovation continued to the very next offensive possession where Fultz grabbed an offensive rebound and dished it to Embiid for a slam. (Re-live the moment in the video below)

Markelle’s most memorable shot from the night came in the fourth quarter. Fultz caught the ball several feet behind the three-point line and Zach LaVine gave Markelle some room so he dribbled into a rhythm three-pointer and drained it for his first NBA three. Again the crowd went berserk. It was the first of many made treys for the young stud.

Is the enormous support from the 76ers crowd beneficial to Fultz?

During the defensive possession that followed Fultz’s first jumper, Reggie Miller had an interesting take on the thunderous cheering from the crowd saying, “This could be reverse psychology. This might work the other way for him. I mean this guy made a simple jump shot and they’re going crazy.”

The crowd cheering for Fultz is what he missed last year. Not being able to show off his full game last year must have been tough and confusing to the crowd. He was probably shooting in the gym dreaming about hitting a three or a jumper and hearing to the emphatic crowd at the Center cheer for him. I can tell you I dreamt about that practicing for my high school games.

I talked to several people who were at the game and they all said the same thing: Everyone wants Markelle to shoot and wants him to succeed. The support from the crowd is not from a passive-aggressive point-of-view where fans look down on Fultz for his shoulder situation. It’s pure brotherly love. Philly fans might be harsh but the support for Fultz is shared by all.

Markelle knows he can make these shots. ‘Kelle shot over 150,000 times this summer. Anyone who has played knows that making a shot in practice and in a game is so much different. Markelle Fultz will be making these jump shots for the rest of his career and will keep improving, I’m confident in that. It proves that the entire 215 and all Sixers fans have full support for him.

For any player or any team, having your home crowd loud cheering for you is the best part about playing at home. It gives you the extra adrenaline rush and extra push to keep making plays. Markelle hearing the fans erupt after hitting shots is a pat on the back to him for all of his hard work and dedication he put into reviving his shot.

(See below for Markelle Fultz’s post-game interview, where he was asked about the shots, if hitting the three was a sigh of relief and if the rumbling crowd had an effect on him.)

76ers fans are used to being patient with our first rounders being injured. The last five years Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Nerlons Noel, and Markelle Fultz all missed the entire season, or in Fultz’s case 68 games (oh, let’s not forget about Zhaire Smith: TBD). Sixers fans are just glad to see Fultz on the court being able to shoot a jump shot. A lot to ask for, right?

Sixers fans are in full support of Markelle and he will just keep getting better and better as this season progresses. We saw Fultz trying to shoot jumpers with that injured shoulder and not be able to lift his arm over his head. Seeing him in that condition just makes everything now that much better. As Markelle Fultz progresses and gets more comfortable in games and with his shooting stroke, the shot will improve and the fans will laud him even more for all the hard work he has put in.

Markelle Fultz will be a key piece for the Philadelphia 76ers as they look to contend in the east for years to come and everyone has his back to cheer him on through the process.