The 76ers left preseason with a 125-120 overtime loss to the Celtics on Friday night, but the bigger story was what their new-look offense looked like when it started clicking.
There were stretches where Philadelphia was sharp, fast, and hard to contain. Tyrese Maxey, Jaylen Brown, LeBron James, and Joel Embiid all shared the floor and showed the kind of versatility the 76ers are chasing. The game wasn’t clean, though, and the growing pains were obvious with seven new players on the standard roster.
Embiid did most of the heavy lifting. The 2022-23 Most Valuable Player finished with 27 points on 7-13 shooting and went 11-13 at the line.
Philadelphia got him involved early in the post, a different look from the last time the stars played together, when the offense ran through LeBron James versus the Nets on Oct. 8.
Once Embiid got rolling, Boston had little answer for him. He worked against an undersized Celtics front line, made the right play when help came, and added five assists.
He also showed he could hurt them away from the basket, hitting a trail three and a corner three in the third quarter after a pass from Brown. After the six-point, eight-turnover game against the Nets, this was a much cleaner and more encouraging version of Embiid.
The broader offense had some real bite too, even if the numbers from deep were rough. Philadelphia shot 18.4% from three, but that didn’t fully capture the quality of the looks it created.
The ball moved, the pace was aggressive, and the stars were willing to take on different roles. Maxey did more work catching and finishing, Brown settled into spot-up threes, and James found the elbow in two-man actions with Maxey.
James didn’t stuff the box score the way the others did, but he still gave the 76ers eight points, eight rebounds, and seven assists. Across the night, the four stars showed the sort of layered attack Philadelphia believes it can build.
There were also some useful takeaways from the supporting cast. Labaron Philon Jr. had 11 points and five assists.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added seven points. Jabari Walker chipped in 13 points and two steals.
Philon’s control, Walker’s energy and strength, and Caldwell-Pope’s perimeter defense all looked like traits that can matter in the rotation, at least to some degree, with the Knicks up next on Oct. 20.
Defensively, though, the 76ers had issues that were harder to ignore. Boston got 18 points in the paint in the first quarter, much of it against Philadelphia’s starters.
The help was late, and Embiid can only cover so much ground at this stage. VJ Edgecombe was out for rest, and his athleticism and anticipation would help.
Dean Wade also seemed to give the group a lift; Philadelphia held Boston to 24 points in the second quarter when Wade played six of his 13 minutes.
The rim protection picture remains a work in progress, and that’s where the 76ers will need improvement through pressure and physical point-of-attack defense.
The glass was another problem. Boston grabbed 18 offensive rebounds and turned them into 26 second-chance points.
Philadelphia struggled to keep a bigger Celtics group off the boards, and that showed when Embiid or Walker were on the floor. The 76ers should get a bit sturdier there if Dominick Barlow and Adem Bona are available, with Barlow dealing with a back issue and Bona recovering from a left foot sprain.
Philadelphia also gave the ball away too much, finishing with 18 turnovers that led to 22 Celtics points. Some of that was Boston reading the passing lanes, but a lot of it came down to timing and chemistry. James was charged with four turnovers because teammates weren’t in the right spots to receive the ball.
That kind of sloppiness is exactly what preseason is for. The 76ers now have three days to reset before facing the Knicks on Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. ET.
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