The 76ers opened the 2016 season in familiar form, losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder 103-97, but there is considerably more excitement around the team this season than in years past. Although they lost Ben Simmons—the No. 1 pick from the draft—to an ankle injury, and they're not quite sure when he'll return (some reports say January), they did get big man Joel Embiid back, but we'll get to that in a minute. First, let's talk about this gentleman.Man the fans showed so much love… I freaking LOVE YALL!!!! TRUST THE PROCESS pic.twitter.com/zXvwo28naY
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) October 27, 2016
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In the first quarter, Westbrook was fouled on a layup and wound up at the corner of the baseline, where he met a freshly shorn Santa Claus in an Allen Iverson jersey. This Sixers fan was super fired up and shot Westbrook a double-barreled bird and basically screamed "Fuck Youuuu" in his face. Westbrook's reaction was perfect. He looked like he wasn't sure this was really happening, and then his teammates came and got him out of there. Similarly, security came and collected the fan and escorted him out of the stadium.In another instance of Sixers personnel keeping people they don't want making a scene off the court, the woman who was originally scheduled to sing the national anthem was prevented from doing so when Philadelphia's brass saw she was wearing a "We Matter" shirt, a reference to the Black Lives Matter movement. Sevyn Streeter posted a video to her Twitter account saying the organization specifically told her she could not sing the anthem because of her shirt:Sixers fan gives Russell Westbrook the double bird pic.twitter.com/iRZH9xVZlS
— Steve Noah (@Steve_OS) October 27, 2016
She told the Associated Press this all happened about two minutes before she was supposed to perform. The Sixers released a statement addressing the situation, I think?Was suppose to sing the anthem at @sixers & @okcthunder game but mins b4 @sixers said I couldn't because I was wearing a "We Matter" jersey pic.twitter.com/wjoJN3rq0r
— Sevyn (@sevyn) October 27, 2016
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