– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BOSTON — Sitting at his locker and surrounded by media members after a historic performance , Philadelphia 76ers superstar Tyrese Maxey made sure his brand new backcourt mate, VJ Edgecombe, knew his place. Every mention of the rookie was by his number, “seventy-seven,” as opposed to his name, and Maxey also pointed out the yips that the rookie showed to the sold-out crowd when he missed two consecutive free throws on Philadelphia’s final possession that could have been disastrous, and did so loud enough to draw Edgecombe’s attention across the locker room.
But all in all, Maxey knew the kid did alright. In fact, outside of the franchise’s best-ever player and his grand entrance into the NBA, Edgecombe’s professional debut might have been the best the league has ever seen.
Edgecombe, the No. 3 overall selection in this year’s NBA Draft, scored 34 points and grabbed seven rebounds, a first-ever game for the ages in leading the Philadelphia 76ers to a thrilling 117-116 victory over the Boston Celtics inside TD Garden in the opening game for both teams in the new season. Not to be outdone, Edgecombe’s backcourt mate, Maxey, dropped a game-high 40 points, making seven of his nine three-pointers in his first regular-season game back from missing most of the second half of last season due to injury.
But the attention soon after the Celtics’ Payton Pritchard missed a baseline jumper at the buzzer went immediately to Edgecombe, with Maxey and the Sixers’ other cornerstone, Joel Embiid, walking over to the greenback to celebrate and pose together.
And with good reason. Those 34 points from Edgecombe were the most points scored in an NBA debut since Wilt Chamberlain set the record with a 43-point game in his league debut back in 1959. Frank Selvy, with 35 points in his debut in 1954, ranks second on that esteemed list, and Edgecombe becomes just the 10th player in NBA history to score at least 30 in their first-ever regular-season NBA game.
The teasing of the rookie won’t last too long if Edgecombe puts up a few more performances such as the one displayed on the hallowed parquet floor.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Wednesday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST photo editor Erica Denhoff. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 50 pictures in total.
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