When word got out that Markelle Fultz was going to make his return to the court for the Sixers on Monday, the internet, predictably, broke into a collective state of glee. Everyone is rooting for this guy. A No. 1 overall draft pick who basically forgot how to shoot in front of the world, Fultz has become one of the strangest, and potentially saddest, sports stories in recent memory. When he checked into an NBA game for the first time since Oct. 23, the Philly fans went nuts. Standing ovation. The whole deal. 

And Fultz didn't let them down. 

Things didn't start so hot for Fultz, who stumbled into a turnover the first time he touched the ball and subsequently air-balled the first jumper he took. But he stayed aggressive the whole time, continued playing relatively confidently even if he likely wasn't feeling a hundred-percent confident inside. He'll have to fake it until he makes it for a while, and in the end, he did, in fact, make a few. 

When it was all said and done, Fultz finished with 10 points, eight assists and four rebounds, all of which were on the offensive end to extend possessions. Cut that line any way you like, but considering the way the last five months have gone, that's a major win for Fultz and the Sixers -- who by the way won their seventh straight game, 123-104 over the visiting Nuggets, to remain in the No. 4 seed in the East. 

What a week this has turned into for Philly and its fans. First they clinch their first playoff berth since 2012 after more than a half-decade of intentional ineptitude, and then, seemingly out of nowhere, Brett Brown announces to the media that Fultz will play Monday night and the whole thing more or less goes off without a hitch. The Sixers are steaming right now behind two guys in Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons who had basically no NBA experience prior to this season. This process isn't anywhere near full form, which is scary, but it's getting there a lot quicker than even the most optimistic people would've thought six months ago. 

A playoff berth is one thing. 

A legit shot at the conference finals is quite another. 

That might sounds like a stretch, but it's not. Boston is ravaged with injuries. Toronto is, for the most part, unproven in the playoffs. Cleveland is a complete unknown. The Sixers, meanwhile, are an elite defensive and rebounding team with  two guys who can win a playoff game, if not a series, all by themselves. They have added shooting all over to account for Simmons' extreme lack thereof. And now here comes Fultz as a potential spark off the bench just in time for the postseason. 

That might sound like a stretch, too, that a guy who still hasn't shown any signs that he can shoot outside 15 feet and is coming off a 68-game stretch of wearing street clothes is just going to step right in and contribute at a meaningful level in the playoffs, but they don't need much from Fultz, who can just spell Simmons here and there and bring a different dynamic of creation for a few stretches a game. 

"I was just focused in helping the team get the win. I just wanted to go out and keep the same energy [the team] had going on," Fultz told Sixers sideline reporter Molly Sullivan after the game. "I felt like I had a little pop back, I had some confidence, and I miss playing with these guys. I give it all to my teammates and my coaching staff and the front office, they all stuck with me, believed in me, and just kept working me every day."

It's true. The patience everyone around Fultz has shown through what has been, and in many ways counties to be, a really bizarre experience has been tremendous. It's easier to stay patient, of course, when you're winning and indeed the Sixers have been more than fine without Fultz. Anything he adds in the near term is gravy. 

And that's good, because its not like Fultz was flawless out there Monday night. The rust was clear. He may have kept his foot on the gas, but he also didn't know when to take it off, and wound up running into players on a few occasions. Out of sorts, if only slightly, would be a fair assessment -- and again, this was his first jumper of the night:

Brett Brown stated a while back that Fultz's range didn't extend beyond the paint, and when I sat on the court and watched him shoot prior to the Sixers' game in Miami in late February, that certainly still seemed to be the case. Everything beyond 15 feet was forced, and to be honest, even the ones inside that range were somewhat unnatural. From that starting point, Monday was a rousing success. 

To that point, we have to keep this in perspective. Yes, Fultz hit a couple 14-footers on Monday, one courtesy of a rather friendly bounce, but it only shows just how dark this situation had gotten that a guy who was selected No. 1 overall making a couple 14-footers, in garbage time no less, is something to actually celebrate. With time winding down in the third quarter, Fultz was being given a daring amount of space at the top of the key and you couldn't have paid him to pull the trigger. 

So there's clearly still a long way to go. If the only time Futlz feels conformable shooting a jumper is from inside 15 feet when he has a head of steam going downhill to supply some of the power, his ceiling is still going to be a million times lower than it was projected. But let's give it some time. For now, the Sixers are rolling as one of the best stories in the NBA, and Fultz, for the first time in what feels like forever, is finally on the positive and hopeful side of it. Rest assured, we'll all be watching to see where it goes from here.