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Sixers’ Tobias Harris doesn’t believe in fighting death with death

He tweeted #AbolishTheDeathPenalty Friday morning after Brandon Bernard was executed Thursday night.

Sixers guard Tobias Harris is against the death penalty.
Sixers guard Tobias Harris is against the death penalty.Read moreMICHAEL BRYANT / Staff Photographer

At 7:16 a.m. Friday, 76ers star Tobias Harris tweeted #AbolishTheDeathPenalty.

Those four connected words and a hashtag were a reaction to the execution of Brandon Bernard by the federal government Thursday night at the Federal Correctional Center in Terre Haute, Ind. Bernard was pronounced dead at 9:27 p.m.

At 40, Brown was the youngest person in the United States to receive a death sentence in nearly 70 years for a crime committed when he was an adolescent.

He was one of five gang members convicted in Texas of killing youth ministers Stacie and Todd Bagley in 1999. Christopher Vialva, the gunman, was executed in September. The other co-defendants were given lesser sentences.

“For me, that is something I never agreed with,” Harris said of the death penalty after practice Friday. “Coming up hearing about it, watching different movies about it, seeing yesterday, obviously, which was another death penalty that did happen. It is something that I just don’t totally agree with. That is my personal opinion.”

» READ MORE: Joel Embiid: ‘A player of my talent should always be in MVP conversations’

He believes it’s time to look for different forms of punishment.

“I don’t fight a death with a death,” Harris said.

Howard fitting in well

Since his first media availability, Dwight Howard has talked about putting team first and helping out Joel Embiid.

But how has he been adjusting?

While Howard doesn’t talk about it, he’ll definitely play a key role in any Sixers success as a starter at center on nights when Embiid rests.

“It has been amazing,” Howard said of his time with the Sixers. “I am happy to be here with this team, and being able to learn from Doc [Rivers] and the coaching staff, but also being able to learn from these young guys.”

» READ MORE: Sixers coach Doc Rivers happy to practice with a full team

Howard said his teammates are doing an excellent job of teaching him the offense and the team’s new style of play.

“I’m looking forward to what is building this year, and winning this chip,” he said of the NBA championship.