This past Saturday, April 15th, the Philadelphia 76ers started their 2023 playoff campaign with a big win at the Wells Fargo Center over the visiting Brooklyn Nets, by a score of 121-101.

Five Sixers players scored in double figures, including Joel Embiid with 26, James Harden with 23, Tobias Harris with 21, Tyrese Maxey with 13, and 11 from Bball Paul himself, Paul Reed.

The team on the court was not the only great thing on Saturday, though!

The franchise went all out for this playoff opener, let me tell you!

They started with an amazing pregame meal for all of us workers that included carved ribeye, scrambled eggs, and paprika-roasted potatoes.

It was delicious and set the mood for the rest of the day!

After I grabbed my share of the pregame meal, I took a walk around the concourse to take a look around, and, man, did they do a good job!

All throughout the rafters, brand new banners were hanging of all the Sixers’ players and labeled with the team’s new slogan for the postseason, “For The Love of Philly.”

Then, to go along with the banners, there were also large balloons spelling out the slogan, and all fans in attendance received a red shirt as they walked in sporting the phrase as well!

After walking the concourse for a while, I headed down to my courtside seat where I do the public addressing to check out some warmups!

I got to catch a little bit of Embiid doing his pregame routine, and then I saw a couple of players fresh off of a G-League Championship with the Delaware Blue Coats, Jaden Springer, and the Slam Dunk Champion, Mac McClung!

I wasn’t the only one checking out warmups, either!

The sixth man, Alan Horowitz, was down at his normal seat taking it all in as well!

And so were JJ Reddick and M. Night Shyamalan!

Following warmups, it was time for the pregame bell ringer to get the crowd hype for the game!

And trust me, he did!

When I announced to the sold-out crowd that the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, Nick Sirianni, was the bell ringer, the building erupted in cheers, nearly blowing the roof off!

It was electric!

That set the tone in the building for the whole game as the crowd was loud often for the home team, who led practically the whole game.

The loudest moment from the crowd may have come when we debuted a new video on the big screen!

And WMGK fans, I know you’ll like this one!

It was a video of a chipmunk doing the Freddy Mercury chant from Queen’s show at Wembley Stadium during Live Aid, except the chipmunk is on the Art Museum steps!

It was so cool and the fans loved it!

It was all downhill from there as the Sixers ran away with the game in the second half and got off to a 1-0 start in the series.

The team is back in action tonight for game 2, so check back here tomorrow for a post summarizing tonight’s game!

Go Sixers!