The Philadelphia 76ers are already making last season feel like a distant memory.
The Sixers aim to continue their unbeaten start to the season Friday when they host the Boston Celtics as part of the NBA Cup tournament.
Philadelphia has won its first four games in stark contrast to last season’s 24-58 campaign – the team’s worst season in nearly a decade. Of course, the Sixers were hammered by injuries in 2024-25, including long-term ailments for Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid.
Maxey is off to a sizzling start, averaging 37.5 points and 8.3 assists while knocking down 47.4% of his 3-pointers. He scored 39 as Philadelphia rallied for a 139-134 overtime win Tuesday over the host Washington Wizards.
The Sixers trailed by 19 in the second half and also faced a five-point deficit with under two minutes remaining in overtime.
“We don’t want this to become a habit, but it does say that we’re tough,” Maxey said. “We’re resilient and it says we’re in shape, honestly. (It was impressive) to be able to play like that and come back, and do it multiple times and going into overtime of a back-to-back and still pull out a win.”
Embiid is still nursing a knee injury that is currently limiting him to about 20 minutes per game. However, he has made the most of those minutes in his last two outings, including a 25-point performance against the Wizards.
“it’s extremely annoying,” Embiid said of the minutes restriction, “but as long as we win, I’m happy. When we lose and I feel like I could have done something, then I might feel some type of way. We’re winning. So, I don’t really care.”
Philadelphia continues to get positive contributions out of rookie VJ Edgecombe and second-year center Adem Bona. Additionally, Quentin Grimes had his best all-around game of the season with 23 points, seven rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks.
Grimes played 39 minutes, while Maxey, Edgecombe and Kelly Oubre Jr. all exceeded 40 minutes.
“We’re waiting to see if we can get some other guys back,” Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse said. “We just have to go and play as hard as we can and go from there.”
Meanwhile, Boston has won two straight games after opening the season with three straight defeats. The Celtics rolled over the Cleveland Cavaliers 125-105 on Wednesday as Jaylen Brown scored 30 points, Sam Hauser added 21 points and three other Celtics registered a double-double.
“Five games in; we’ve got 77 left,” Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said. “We’ve got to do it every night. … But there was a lot of minutes over the last two, three games where (I’ve thought), ‘This is who we have to be.'”
Brown and the Celtics need continued contributions from role players like Neemias Queta and Josh Minott, who combined for 21 points and 28 rebounds against Cleveland.
“It’s just one game,” Brown said. “We’ve got a lot of basketball in front of us. We’re still learning, still figuring some stuff out. But we’re moving in the right direction.”
This is already the teams’ second meeting of the season. The Sixers notched a 117-116 victory in Boston on opening night as Maxey and Edgecombe combined for 74 points.
