Midway thru 3 quarters, Philadelphia’s  Lou Williams has 12 points in his club’s season-opening visit to Portland, an occasion bound to make fewer headlines than the Sixers guard’s claims of talking a gunman out of robbing him on Christmas Eve. From The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Bob Cooney ;

“A guy tried to rob me but decided not to because of whatever I do in the community,” said Williams. “He’s a Lou Williams fan, so he didn’t rob me.”

Williams said he was driving in his car in Manayunk when the man approached, knocked on the driver’s window and had a gun drawn.

“There’s crime everywhere,” said Williams. “I was debating whether to pull off to help the guy. The gun was already out. He did all the talking, and we came up with a solution before i could really say much. I treated him to McDonald’s.”