Harden delights fans in Philly home debut

Much like his bushy beard, James Harden is starting to grow on the 76ers.

Harden had a packed house in a frenzy from the moment he was introduced as "making his Philadelphia home debut," then flashed his MVP-form with 26 points, nine assists and nine rebounds to lead the 76ers to a 123-108 NBA win over the New York Knicks on Wednesday night.

Superstar Joel Embiid had 27 points and 12 rebounds. Tyrese Maxey scored 25 points.

But the night belonged to the Beard, who arrived in last month's trade for Australian fellow All-Star Ben Simmons and others.

The Sixers moved to 3-0 with Harden in the lineup and his dynamic duo hookup with Embiid has suddenly stamped the Sixers as legitimate contenders in the Eastern Conference, where they are already third with a 37-23 record despite Simmons not playing all season.

Harden needed time to warm up to the new digs. His first points came with 5:32 left in the first quarter on, naturally, an and-1 conversion. He followed that with, yup, his step-back 3 to give him five fast points.

There was much more to showcase.

He scored 13 points in the second quarter and had fans shooting video on their phones and waving cutouts of his head as they were going wild in the crowd.

Philly's hype for the new arrival rivaled the anticipated first games over the last 25 years of Terrell Owens (Eagles) and Bryce Harper (Phillies). The Wells Fargo Center was jammed with 21,333 fans and tickets for a top seat -- not far off from rapper Meek Mill's courtside view -- were sold for thousands on the secondary market.

Even director M. Night Shyamalan attended for the city's biggest happening on the sports scene.

The masks came off -- and the beards went on. With Philadelphia dropping the indoor mask mandate,