Several of the Sixers made visits, too, including Embiid, Simmons and Markelle Fultz. While he was incarcerated, celebrities including Rubin and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, visited him and pledged their support. Mill was sentenced in November to two to four years in prison for violating probation. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court had directed a Philadelphia judge who had jailed the Maybach Music Group rapper to immediately issue an order freeing him on bail while he appeals drug and gun violations from a 2008 incident. “Just having someone that looks out for us, all of us here, it would just mean a lot for him to be back in Philly, in the city of Philadelphia with the fans, especially with a game like that tonight,” Simmons said. Simmons called Mill’s presence “amazing”.

Embiid finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds while Ben Simmons had 14 points and 10 boards. The red-hot Sixers won 104-91 over the Heat to clinch the first-round series, four games to one. The high-stakes playoff tilt would become a impromptu celebration of his body of work: Throughout the night Mill’s songs were played on the arena sound system during timeouts and breaks in play. Wearing a Joel Embiid jersey, Mill took in the game from courtside beside Rubin, Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf, Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie and comedian and fellow Philly native Kevin Hart. They used to pray for times like this, indeed.

He visited privately with the Sixers in their locker room before emerging from the tunnel to rapturous applause shortly after 8pm at the sold-out 20,478-seat Wells Fargo Center for the ceremonial pre-game ringing of a Liberty Bell replica, a newer tradition in south Philadelphia reserved for local luminaries that’s been embraced during the team’s rapid – and long-anticipated – ascent from the NBA cellar. They came and got Meek Mill in a helicopter 💯💪🏽 #MeekFree /URKbgTkAjQ- 💸 April 24, 2018

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