Good news for all Huxtable fans: The Cosby Show is alive and well.

Although it won't show up in the box score of Philly's home opener against Milwaukee, the Sixers got 44 huge minutes from Bill Cosby Wednesday night.

Actually, it was more like an hour and 44 minutes. From the moment he strolled onto the F.U. Center floor, almost 60 minutes before tipoff, until his early departure with just over four minutes left in the game, Cosby was on fire. Giving interviews. Shaking hands. Taking pictures. Draining threes.

Okay -- maybe not draining threes. But it wouldn't have surprised anybody. The man was absolutely lights out.

How locked in was he? During halftime, he never once got up from his courtside seat, instead taking on all comers for the entire 15 minutes. Women. Children. ESPN The Magazine reporters. Dogs.

Okay -- maybe not dogs. But it wouldn't have surprised anybody.

He wasn't even distracted by the halftime entertainment: Six remarkably flexible African contortionists, one of whom was doing things to his legs that most humans couldn't even do to a droopy string of half-melted silly putty. Clearly, Heathcliff Huxtable was in the zone.

So why then, with 4:13 left and Larry Brown's boys up 89-81, did the Philly native throw on his red Central High jacket and head for the exits?

"He probably felt like he needed to get an early jump on traffic," said Sixers guard Eric Snow, who contributed 12, 8, and 7 to the cause. "He obviously had confidence in us."

And who could blame him? Any time Ervin Johnson and Dan Gadzuric combine for two points and seven fouls in 45 minutes while trying to contain T-Mac II (Todd MacCulloch) and his career-high 14 boards, confidence is warranted.

You want confidence? Cosby told me that his Sixers will reach the Eastern Conference finals. Of course he also told me that his Temple Owls will reach the Elite Eight. And that he could take T-Mac II in a game of one-on-one. "As long as we stay out by the three-point line and only play up to eight," he boasted. "After eight, I'd get tired."

Never too tired to talk though. That's why Cosby's 44 minutes along the baseline were so valuable. "He tells us when we have back-picks and stuff like that. He's always talking," said Snow. "He probably took away a couple of their easy baskets."

Of course Snow was only kidding. Or was he?

Perhaps it's no coincidence that after Cosby left, the Bucks ripped off eight straight to tie it at 89, at which point Boyz II Men's Shawn Stockman decided he wanted to get a jump on traffic too. Or maybe he was just bummed that Dave Hollister scored the national anthem gig instead of him.

Either way, with 59.8 seconds left, the Sixers were Stockman-less and Cosby-less. And still they found a way to pull out a 95-93 win.

Must've had something to do with the guys on the court.

Eddie Matz is a frequent contributor to ESPN The Magazine.