PHILADELPHIA _ Jimmy Butler received a Philly welcome and delivered.
At the conclusion of warmups, Meek Mill's "Dreams and Nightmares" blared in the Wells Fargo Center. Then former Sixer great and hall of Famer Allen Iverson did the pre-game ceremonial bell ringing. And 1 minute, 30 seconds into the matchup, the sellout crowd of 20,485 was chanting 'Jimmy Butler! ... Jimmy Butler!'
He delivered, finishing with 28 points, seven assists, three rebounds and two steals in the Sixers' 113-107 victory over the Utah Jazz. Eight of his points came in the fourth quarter. Not bad for a home debut. His first game as a Sixer came in Wednesday night's loss at the Orlando Magic.
Joel Embiid added 23 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and two steals in just 26 minutes, 14 seconds due to foul trouble. Ben Simmons had 10 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Donovan Mitchell had a game-high 31 points for the Jazz (7-8).
The Sixers (10-7) acquired Butler and Justin Patton from the Minnesota Timberwolves for Robert Covington, Dario Saric, Jerryd Bayless, and a 2022 second-round draft pick until Monday.
Thirteen of Butler's points on Friday came in the first half on 6-for-7 shooting. He made his first four baskets on a driving layup, a 3-pointer, a running layup and a pull-up jumper. After missing a pull-up jumper, Butler scored on a driving layup and finished an alley-oop with a dunk on side out-of-bounds play. A small portion from The Boogie Down Productions hit song "Jimmy" played after that score.
Butler had been the league's leading fourth-quarter scorer heading into the trade. But he dropped to third (8.1 points per game) on Thursday due to not scoring in the fourth quarter Wednesday night. The Sixers hoped he would display his fourth-quarter dominance on Friday. He delivered, making 3 of 4 shots and compiling two assists to lead the Sixers to the win.
The Sixers, however, did what they are accustomed to do: Lose a big lead.
They had a commanding 16-point lead (40-24) in the second quarter. However, they were clinging to a 54-52 advantage at intermission.
Embiid left the game after picking up his fourth foul with early in the third quarter.
The Jazz pulled within one-point (77-76) on Alex Burks' three-point play with 3:24 left in the third quarter. Then Utah took an 81-80 lead on Mitchell's fadeway jumper over Butler with 2:02 remaining in the quarter. They went on to extend their lead to three points.
But the Sixers took an 86-84 lead with 1 second left in the quarter thanks to three-point play by Butler. The Jazz would take a 95-90 lead after Rudy Gobert's dunk with 8:05 left.
But Butler went on to spark an 8-0 run by the Sixers.
He split a pair of foul shots at the 7:25-mark. Embiid blocked Gobert's shot on the ensuing possession. Butler grabbed the rebound and went on to drain a 3 at the other end, closing the gap to one point (95-94).
Then, Embiid scored on a five-foot hook shot before Butler's dunk gave the Sixers a 98-95 lead with 5:26 to play.
Mitchell responded by scoring the game's next six points on a 13-foot step-back jumper, a 26-foot 3-pointer and foul shot _ to put the Jazz up 101-98. The Sixers went on to tie the score three times before Simmons scored and was fouled by Mitchell with 58 seconds left to put his team up 109-107. He missed the foul shot, but Joe Ingles' air-ball 3-pointer landed out of bounds on the ensuing possession.
Then, Butler's reverse layup not only pushed the Sixers lead to four points (111-107) with 19 seconds, it also brought Iverson out of his courtside seat. Butler then drew an offensive foul on Gobert on the ensuing possession. That led to chants of 'Jimmy Butler! ... Jimmy Butler!"
Embiid added a pair of foul shots for the final score.
In addition to Iverson, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, former Eagle and Hall of Fame wideout Chris Carter along with Eagles defensive backs Malcolm Jenkins and Jalen Mills attended the game.
Markelle Fultz displayed a new free-throw form as a way to eliminate his hitch. He patted the ball back and forth from the right hand to left hand on the way up to shoot. He split four foul shots en route to finishing with six points.
