Danuel House Appreciates Sixers Fans' Tough Love vs. Bucks

One could say the Philadelphia 76ers have one of the best situations when it comes to home-court advantage. As the Sixers tend to sell out every game, their passionate fan base can help make a difference in a matchup.

Philly’s fan base is full of die-hards, but they’ll let their team know when they’re not satisfied with what they are witnessing. During Thursday night’s home opener between the 76ers and the Milwaukee Bucks, first-year Sixers got their first taste of tough brotherly love.

In the second half against the Bucks, the Sixers trailed by double digits. Their star center Joel Embiid struggled to produce points, and the team looked out of sorts on both sides of the ball. However, when a lineup change occurred, James Harden started to get it going, and the game changed.

Suddenly, the Sixers were back in the game, and the boos from earlier in the matchup turned into a roaring crowd happy to see their team get back on track.

“It was amazing,” said Danuel House Jr., who made his official Sixers home debut on Thursday night. “The energy was crazy. Philly is crazy. The energy was off the Richter scale. They got Chick-Fil-A tonight, of course, so they are happy about that.”

Philadelphia’s fan base is an acquired taste for some. While some players believe booing the home team when things aren’t going well is a negative method to inject confidence into the home team, a player like House believes it’s a motivating tool that can help give the players a much-needed boost.

“It motivates me personally because it’s like, ‘Man, I don’t like when I’m seeing — tighten up.’ It’s something good,” House explained. “It’s just like your parents. They be like, ‘Hey, that wasn’t your best thing, tighten up.’ What you gonna do? Tighten up. It’s the home crowd. They are giving us energy. They spent their hard-earned money, and they are giving us effort, dealing with traffic to get here. So, that’s what we want to do is just return the energy and the love and show Philly that we’re going to play for the front and the back of the jersey. We’re gonna give it our all.”

Unfortunately, Philly’s comeback attempt on Thursday night came up short. While they managed to climb out of a double-digit hole and take the game down to the last possession, the Bucks put the Sixers away 90-88. Considering it’s just the second matchup of an 82-game season, the Sixers are confident they’ll bounce back.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.