Kyle Lowry returned to his hometown during his Philadelphia 76ers debut on Thursday night and wound up leaving the floor after a bloody clash with New York Knicks center Jericho Sims.
Lowry took a vicious elbow to the face from the gargantuan center as he drove to the basket early in the second quarter.
Lowry ended up needing stitches after his the disappointing injury almost cut his highly anticipated debut well short.
Lowry visibly shaken after dangerous blow to the face
Lowry’s arrival in the City of Brotherly Love created a picture-perfect scenario for the hard-nosed point guard and the gritty Philadelphia fanbase.
The crowd at arena showered the North Philly native with a standing ovation when he checked in to the game in the first quarter, asthe team shared on X/Twitter:
“making his Sixer debut from North Philly…Kyle Lowry!“pic.twitter.com/ay0mkbybfz
76ers faithful were experiencing that exact level of playoff intensity from Lowry, who drove to the basket with authority early in the second quarter.
After putting up a shot at the rim, Sims went up for a block attempt and unintentionally came down hard on Lowry’s forehead,per New York Basketball.
Kyle Lowry hit hard in the face 10 minutes into his Sixers careerpic.twitter.com/UVu0PC87fk
It took much attention from the Sixers’ medical staff to stop the bleeding. As for the game’s outcome, the 76ers couldn’t stop the bleeding on the scoreboard, losing 110-96 to the Knicks.
Fortunately, Lowry was able to speak after the game and reflect on his memorable debut, headlined by his 11 points on the night.NBC Sports’ John Clarkhighlighted Lowry’s comments.
“It was great. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t play as well as I think we can. But it was an amazing atmosphere and the ovation that I got was awesome. I was pissed that we lost, and we were in that situation”-Kyle Lowry on his Sixers debut and ovationhttps://t.co/bu87I0sg3N
The Sixers and their fans will keep their fingers crossed that the injury won’t cause Lowry to miss any time in the future.
