The Sixers started their season off on the right foot. They’re hoping to keep that momentum.
The Sixers started their season with a 1-0 record for the first time since the 2021-22 campaign.
BOSTON — The 76ers have grown accustomed to recovering from season-opening losses in their pursuit of successful campaigns.
Not this season.
The Sixers turned TD Garden — the site of many a crushing loss — into the place where they celebrated a hard-fought, 117-116 victory over the Boston Celtics. Afterward, players were amazed to learn that the last time the Sixers started 1-0 was during the 2021-22 season.
“I asked Tyrese [Maxey], I didn’t really remember because last year was in the past, but I was like, ‘Hey, did we win our first game last year?’ ” Kelly Oubre Jr. said. “He was like, ‘Nope.’ He was like, ‘We didn’t win our first game since my second year in the league.’ And I was like, ‘Wow, that’s crazy.’”
» READ MORE: VJ Edgecombe enjoyed every bit of his historic NBA debut. But he hopes it becomes a footnote to a long career.
Since that road victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Oct. 20, 2021, the Sixers have suffered season-opening setbacks at Boston in 2022-23, at the Milwaukee Bucks in 2023-24, and against Milwaukee at home last season.
“So I think we started off better than we did last year,” Oubre said with a lighthearted chuckle. “So let’s continue to get better, continue to take it game by game, and continue to have a better year than last year.”
The Sixers opened last season with two straight losses and dropped 12 of their first 14. They never recovered and finished with the league’s fifth-worst record at 24-58 after electing to tank the final two months of the season.
Now, they’re focused on opening with consecutive victories for the first time since 2020-21, Maxey’s rookie season. That squad won seven of its first eight games en route to finishing with the Eastern Conference’s best record at 49-23 during a 72-game pandemic-shortened season.
It’s not out of the question for the Sixers to win four of this season’s first five games.
They’ll entertain the Charlotte Hornets in Saturday’s home opener before hosting the Orlando Magic on Monday. The Sixers then will face the Washington Wizards on Tuesday at Capital One Arena in Washington, then return home to host Boston (0-1) on Oct. 31.
They could be favored to beat the Hornets (1-0), Wizards (0-1), and the Celtics.
» READ MORE: VJ Edgecombe enjoyed every bit of his historic NBA debut. But he hopes it becomes a footnote to a long career.
But the Sixers felt it was crucial to get Wednesday’s victory regardless of which teams were next on the schedule.
“Coach [Nick] Nurse came in before the game and said we worked our tail off all summer,” Maxey said. ”It was a long summer that we didn’t like. All fall, we worked extremely hard, all training camp. And, like he said, we are going to go out there and reward ourselves. Go out there and play 48 minutes of the new Sixers culture basketball.
“And I feel like we did that. We played to the end.”
Maxey finished with a game-high 40 points, while rookie guard VJ Edgecombe finished with 34 points. It was the third-highest scoring debut in NBA history behind Wilt Chamberlain’s 43 points on Oct. 24, 1959, and Frank Selvy’s 35 points on Nov. 30, 1954.
Power forwards Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker, who are on two-way contracts, stepped up and made huge plays. Quentin Grimes made some big plays in the fourth quarter. Oubre grabbed huge rebounds and made a clutch three-pointer.
“Guys really stepped up,” Maxey said.