The Sixers’ victory over the Knicks showed what they have to do to win big: Leave their past behind
Jaylen Brown won't pile up points every night. Joel Embiid won't approach Wilt Chamberlain-style stats. It's the only way for this team of stars to meet expectations.
NEW YORK — Before facing the giant amoeba of media materializing around his Madison Square Garden locker here late Tuesday night, Jaylen Brown dressed in an ensemble that came as close as clothing can to being a blank slate: black socks, black pleated dress pants, a thick black T-shirt. If his aim was to create the impression that he was beginning something new with the 76ers, that he wanted no reminders of his 10 years with the Boston Celtics and the player he had been for them, he could have done worse.
“Every year is different,” he said after the crowd dispersed. “Every year is new. Last year was different from the year before. This year is different from last year. You’ve just got to be versatile and ready for whatever is thrown at you. That’s what I’m ready for.”
» READ MORE: David Murphy: The Sixers didn’t look like a team full of stars in their season-opening win.
His first game for the Sixers had driven home that same point: different team, different role, different responsibilities. It had been the theme of the night for the team in its 106-100 victory over the Knicks, the theme throughout the offseason and preseason.
For this experiment to be as grand as it can be, the stars populating the Sixers’ starting lineup will have to adjust — have to sacrifice, the word that keeps cropping up around them. Brown had. The Celtics had asked him, had needed him, to score in scads last season, nearly 29 points a game. Against the Knicks, he was merely the Sixers’ best all-around player: a plus-17, the highest on the team; 19 points; eight rebounds; six assists; the game-turning three-pointer at the close of the third quarter off an inbounds pass that he and LeBron James had called in the moment.
Moments. That’s the other word that will carry weight for the Sixers over their next 81 games and beyond. Anyone who reviews a Sixers box score for each player’s final totals and draws any major conclusions from those numbers will be missing the point and purpose of the approach they have to have this season.
Brown’s numbers captured the general excellence of his performance, yes. But Joel Embiid’s 13 points and 4-for-15 shooting night didn’t tell the tale of his renewed mobility as a defender, the way he protected the rim, rerouting one Knick after another who dribbled into the lane. James’ near-triple-double — 14 points, nine rebounds, seven assists — didn’t capture the array of smart and subtle passes he threw throughout the game, just to keep the Sixers’ offensive sets crisp.
Tyrese Maxey got most of his 28 points by streaking up and down the floor, either beating New York defenders to the basket or twisting his body around them if they happened to already be there. There will be other nights, though, when teams won’t let Maxey treat the court like a racetrack. And maybe on those nights, the Sixers will need more from VJ Edgecombe, who averaged 16 points last season and had just nine points against the Knicks … but late in Tuesday’s game found himself open at the “dunker’s spot” for a couple of easy and important jams.
Moments.
“I’m obviously in a situation where I shot more last year, but for me, I’m willing to do whatever it takes to win,” Edgecombe said. “I want to win. I want to know what it feels like to win at a really high level. I’m going to get my shots, still. I’m going to be more open than I would think. I’ve just obviously got to shoot the ball with confidence and find my space.”
» READ MORE: LeBron James’ subtle impact and ability to see ‘things before it happens’ help Sixers beat Knicks in his debut
This was always going to be the biggest and most important challenge for the Sixers: cultivating that cohesion and unselfish style of play within a lineup full of stars, each of whom has his own identity and expectations for himself. Brown carried the Celtics to 56 victories last season by shooting more than he ever had before. Embiid has had seasons when his offensive efficiency and dominance were statistically comparable to Wilt Chamberlain’s. The Knicks’ pregame ring ceremony Tuesday was a timely reminder of the power of familiarity, culture, and continuity — their primary strengths in their championship run last season, a run that included a four-game obliteration of the Sixers in the conference semifinals — and these Sixers will have to give themselves a crash course in those subjects if they’re to be the team they can be.
“We’re just figuring it out,” Brown said. “We’re not even at the tip of the iceberg in terms of building chemistry, understanding ourselves on the floor, understanding spacing. We’re still at the very early stages of what we can possibly be, so it’s a good sign that we can win while still being at that early stage. Spacing, timing, chemistry, what sets work better, what matchups, what lineups work best with each other — from the coaching staff and players, we’re all figuring it all out.”
Did he have a Celtics team, perhaps the 2024 championship club, that met that standard?
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“I don’t have a standard,” he said, “but I know the standard now, the mentality we’ve got to have, is a winning mentality. We’ve got to respect the game. We’ve got to play defense — nonnegotiable — and we’ve got to fight. We’ve got to be the harder-playing team. If we set that standard and maintain that, we’ll be in a good spot.”
» READ MORE: Tyrese Maxey sets the tone and still paces the new-look Sixers in Knicks win: ‘Tyrese was Tyrese.”
Tuesday was a good start. Like Jaylen Brown said, different season, different team, different moments to seize, all of it nonnegotiable.
Thursday night, in their home opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers, will be the Sixers’ next test, in this new year with no past.
Over the course of our 76 simulations, Joel Embiid and LeBron James each averaged around 68 games played per season, and played in all 82 games 11 times and 13 times, respectively. That included 31 simulations in which both players appeared in more than 65 games together.
Still, the Sixers ...
- only made the playoffs 11 times.
- finished last (15th) in the East 12 times.
- finished in 14th most often (13 times).
- had an average record of 32-50. Their most common record was 34-48 (nine times).
- posted a top record of 43-39.
- posted a low record of 19-63.
