Philadelphia — After barely breaking a smile, after answering question after question with precise, basketball-centric answers, Michael Carter-Williams finally cracked.

The former Syracuse University point guard had just played the game of his 22-year-old life. In his NBA debut, against the league's fearsome defending champions, he scored 22 points, registered 12 assists and had nine steals, seven rebounds and a single turnover as his Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Miami Heat 114-110 Wednesday at the Wells Fargo Center.

His nine steals set a record for most NBA steals in a debut and tied the record for most steals by a Sixer in a single game. The 22 points were the most scored in a Sixer debut since Allen Iverson, who scored 30 vs. Milwaukee in 1996. Iverson, in attendance after announcing his retirement, saw what the standing, stomping Sixers fans witnessed at the end of Wednesday's game: Carter-Williams grabbed a critical rebound and sank two free throws in the waning seconds to preserve the Philadelphia win.

"It couldn't have gone any better," Carter-Williams finally conceded with a wide smile and a chuckle. "I was all excited up in here. I'll be excited tonight, celebrate with my family and then back to work tomorrow."

"He did great. And that's an understatement," said Sixers guard Evan Turner. "He had a great game. He led us. He played a great all-around game. His poise out there for a young guy was tremendous."

"What do you say?" asked Sixers coach Brett Brown. "You look at the win and you look at the stat line. He was very, very good."

He was electrifying from the start. In the first two minutes of the game, Carter-Williams had a steal, a dunk, an assist and a 3-pointer. The Sixers opened on a ridiculous 23-2 run over the defending NBA champions.

"I was ready," Carter-Williams said later. "I was ready to go out there, anxious for this moment. I'm glad I was able to perform the way I did."

He scored five points, had four assists and four steals in nearly nine minutes of the first quarter. He sank another three in the second quarter. There were rebounds, long passes to sprinting teammates, defensive disruptions that Syracuse will miss this season.

He stole the ball from LeBron James and dunked at the other end in a sequence that brought Sixers fans to their feet. ("I just saw him turn his back," Carter-Williams said, "and I was able to jump when he wasn't looking.") The Heat guarded him with the 6-foot-2 Mario Chalmers and the similarly-sized Norris Cole. By intermission, Carter-Williams had 11 points, seven assists, six steals and zero turnovers. The Sixers were hanging on by a 2-point thread.

"I was figuring out their defense a little bit," he said. "I was able to get steals, that was a big plus. And guys were cutting to the hoop, I was getting passes to them and they were finishing. Everything was clicking tonight."

Carter-Williams admitted to a jangly mixture of nerves and excitement before the game. He spent most of the Sixers' pregame shoot-around on the floor. He fired jump shots. He backed down defenders in the post. He shot free throws.

He looked like the same gangly, spontaneous kid who one season ago was joking with Syracuse teammates at Orange practices. The Sixers made him the 11th pick of the June draft and bestowed upon him the keys to a tottering kingdom. Nothing much is expected of Philadelphia, picked by Las Vegas oddsmakers to be the worst team in the NBA this year.

But Carter-Williams expects things from himself.

"I think I'm pretty confident in my game. I've worked real hard to get to this moment. I don't have any doubt in myself," he said. "I know we're playing a great team. That's how the game goes. I'm going to go out there and try hard and try to lead my team to a win."

Turner, the former Ohio State star who is now the closest thing the Sixers have to a franchise player, said he likes what he sees from Carter-Willliams, who at 6-foot-6 possesses the length and the athleticism that his coaches and teammates often cite as his most obvious attributes. And as every day passes, Turner notices subtle alterations in the young point guard.

"I think he's getting more comfortable every day," Turner said. "He works hard, he pays attention to detail. I just think he cares about playing, he tries to get better — he comes out early and stays real late to get better."

Brown, the Sixers coach, warned Carter-Williams to give up the ball early Wednesday night. The Heat, with their big, bouncy bodies and their superior basketball skills, would undoubtedly attempt to bump and disrupt the rookie point guard.

"You have to move the ball against this team," Brown said. "They're too big. They're too athletic. The ball cannot stick."

Carter-Williams raced from the court to a designated room before the game to squeeze in a mandated film session. Nobody needed to point out LeBron, or Chris Bosh, Chalmers, the Birdman. (Dwayne Wade was a medical scratch.) For Carter-Williams, the only thing better than starting his first NBA game was starting it against the world champion Heat.

"I think it makes it a little better because as a basketball player, you want the best competition," he said. "To go against the Miami Heat is just a blessing. I'm going to go out there and have fun."

His teammates told him to "be patient, just stay within my game." It was just a basketball game, he said. He had put in the hours, done the work. Turner referenced Carter-Williams' poise, his patience, his competitive spirit. All that was left was to play.

And when it was over, he admitted it seemed like a dream.

"It's my first NBA game. We were able to come up with a win and we all played great," Carter-Williams said later, surrounded by reporters in the Sixers locker room. "So I'll never forget this day. It's a dream come true."