Jaylen Brown didn’t need long to send a warning to the rest of the league.
After the 76ers opened their season with a road win over the defending champion Knicks on banner night, Brown said Philadelphia is nowhere close to finding its ceiling. The new-look Sixers leaned on 28 points from Tyrese Maxey and got enough from their revamped core to leave Madison Square Garden with a 1-0 start.
Brown’s debut was part of the story, too. He finished with 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists, and his game fit cleanly into a system that already features LeBron James, Maxey and Joel Embiid drawing attention in different ways. Even with the newcomer chemistry still taking shape, Philadelphia looked sharp enough to steal a win on opening night.
And Brown wasn’t about to dress it up.
"I think it was just OK. We got a lot of room for growth, room for improvement," Brown said, per Kris Rhim.
"We're not even at the tip of the iceberg in terms of hitting chemistry ... So it's a good sign that we can win while still being at that early stage."
That’s the part the rest of the NBA has to notice: the Sixers took down the Knicks while shooting 11-for-40 from 3-point range, and Embiid had his own rough patches. In other words, this wasn’t Philadelphia at full strength or full flow. It was a team still figuring itself out and still good enough to win a meaningful opener.
Embiid said the night felt different from past ones and pointed to his own offseason work as a possible turning point on defense.
"I think just we have the talent," Embiid said, per Rhim. "I think a lot of it falls on me.
I put it on me. If I want to be All-Defense like I used to be, that changes everything for our team.
So if I can play that way every single night, which I will, changes everything."
James, meanwhile, said he’s still settling into his “rhythm,” but liked what he saw from the group on that end of the floor.
"Obviously, just a little bit over two weeks with the new squad," James said. "But yeah, I like the way we played. I think we played exceptionally well, especially defensively.”
He also had praise for Maxey’s pace.
“It doesn’t seem like he gets tired," James said. "He’s one of the fastest guys in the league, maybe the fastest with the ball."
Brown echoed that excitement about Maxey, whose burst helped set the tone in the opener. It all added up to a strong first impression for a team that suddenly has real star power and, by its own accounting, a lot more room to grow.
The Sixers now move on to host James’ former Cavaliers team on Thursday night.
In Other News...
76ers Already Have A Joel Embiid Problem They Couldnt Hide
The season opener offered a reminder that the 76ers biggest question may not be about their stars, but about what happens when Joel Embiid has to take a breather. Against the Knicks, Philadelphia looked exposed behind him as Adem Bona and Jabari Walker had a tough time dealing with Andre Drummond, a matchup that quickly turned into a problem the Sixers could not paper over for long. Injuries already have thinned the center group, and the team had to get creative just to survive stretches without its anchor in the paint.
Philadelphias depth chart at the position now feels like something worth watching closely, especially if the early-season rotation has to lean on stopgap answers more than expected. The Sixers can live with a lot when Embiid is on the floor, but the opener showed how quickly the matchup can tilt once he is not, and it left an obvious question hanging over the roster: whether this team will need to find more reliable help at center before those minutes decide a game again. [Read more 🡒]
Nick Nurse Still Has A Knicks Grudge The 76ers Havent Settled
The 76ers have already made their presence felt against New York once this season, walking out of Madison Square Garden with a 106-100 win that spoiled the Knicks ring and banner ceremony. For Philadelphia, it was more than just an early-season road victory. It was the kind of result that still carries some extra edge for a team that has spent time looking back at what happened against the Knicks in the playoffs.
Nick Nurse has not completely let go of that loss in the Eastern Conference semifinals, and the frustration around it still lingers as the two teams measure themselves again. Philadelphia has also reworked its roster with Jaylen Brown and LeBron James in the mix, giving the club more ways to navigate the season if Joel Embiid misses time. Even so, the Knicks remain a familiar source of unfinished business for a coach who clearly has not moved on from the last postseason meeting. [Read more 🡒]
Paul George Just Reopened An Uncomfortable 76ers Debate
Paul Georges first night in Boston looked a lot like the kind of performance the 76ers spent a season hoping to see more often. In the Celtics season opener, George poured in 38 points and added five rebounds, three assists and five steals, immediately looking like a player with more room to operate than he ever consistently found in Philadelphia. The fit was different from the start, with Boston putting him in a larger role and giving him the freedom to play like a primary option alongside Jayson Tatum.
For the 76ers, it reopened an uncomfortable question about what exactly went wrong during Georges time in Philadelphia. Injuries were part of the answer, but so were the team dynamics around him, which never seemed to let his game breathe in the way it did against his new backdrop. If this is the beginning of a resurgence, it only sharpens the sense that the Sixers may have watched a different version of George emerge just as he moved on. [Read more 🡒]