That’s enough preseason — who is ready for the real thing?
The Sixers coasted through the 2026 preseason finale, losing 125-120 in overtime against some form of the Boston Celtics Friday night. The starters once again weren’t at their sharpest, but still gave the fans plenty of highlights.
In his first home game as a Sixer, LeBron James had eight points on 4-of-9 shooting along with eight rebounds and seven assists.
Joel Embiid led the Sixers with 27 points shooting 7-of-13 from the floor with eight rebounds and five assists. Tyrese Maxey had 22 points and six assists on 7-of-11 shooting. Jaylen Brown shot 8-of-14 from the floor to put up 20 points, eight rebounds and three assists.
The Sixers held out VJ Edgecombe for this one, Nick Nurse said it was due to him playing the first three preseason games on top of hard practices. Adem Bona (foot), Anfernee Simons (hamstring), Dominick Barlow (back) and Tacko Fall (hip) remained out.
Here are some thoughts at the buzzer.
First Quarter
- There was actually the tiniest bit of pressure for the starting unit, and really the whole team, to look good as the Celtics only started one player on a standard contract. Their first three shots of the game were threes off the mark missed by LeBron, Embiid and KCP, respectively. Embiid scored their first points of the game, an and-1 by the block in what was a sloppy opening few minutes.
- If there was one theme early, it was moving the ball. Nearly every possession for the Sixers early had at least two passes, with an emphasis also on getting the ball down the floor quick to create transition opportunities. There was plenty of sloppiness as they turned the ball over three times. They finally connected on a fast break a little over four minutes into a game, but it was a beautiful fast break lob from Maxey to James.
- Brown made his first offensive impact on the game with a driving and-1 coming out of a timeout. Boston brought out an entirely new group during the break, one consisting of more of their usual second-stringers. Embiid looked way more in rhythm than he did in Brooklyn, but he basically just had to show up to do that.
- The sloppiness did continue through the heart of the Sixers’ offense. Embiid and Maxey each turned the ball over three times in the quarter. They closed the frame with a unit of Brown and bench players, and it didn’t look much better. Brown got stripped trying to spin through a double team and Labaron Philon Jr. had his first shot of the night blocked. Justin Edwards continues to have a rough preseason but at least was able to hit a grenade that was passed to him in the midrange. The Sixers trailed the JV Celtics by six after one.
Second Quarter
- James checked back in and the first play ran might have looked better than anything they ran in the first quarter. James caught the ball at the free throw line and let his teammates cut through to find a wide open Brown for three, it fell just short. Brown made up for that by finishing a fast break started by a Dean Wade steal.
- James tried to do Embiid’s signature through-the-legs drop pass to Philon and while it didn’t go as smoothly as when Maxey and Embiid run it, Philon was able to pump fake his defender and knock down a good looking midrange. Brown started to heat up as he put up 14 in the half. LeBron was causing damage on cuts and rolls but left some points at the free throw line.
- It was far from LeBron’s sharpest outing, but there was still something so cool about seeing him pick, roll and be wide open for a dump off pass from Maxey. Their chemistry was on display a few possessions later as well when LeBron threw a gorgeous touchdown pass Maxey easily finished in transition. He hit Jabari Walker with a similar pass the following possession, but Walker had to settle for two at the line.
- The offense went back to looking pretty choppy once James went back to the bench, but a couple missed layups definitely exaggerated that feeling. Embiid didn’t get a three to fall until his fifth attempt of the night, but that seemed to finally help him as he hit a rhythm jumper to put the Sixers up by two to close the half.
Third Quarter
- Unfortunately, there might be another injury to monitor among the front court reserves as Dean Wade appeared to tweak his ankle late in the second quarter. He left the game and wasn’t on the bench to start the second half.
- As expected, the starters were back out there to start the second half, and Jordan Walsh took that opportunity to try to posterize Embiid. The attempt was blocked, leading to a Brown transition layup. Embiid knocked down a LeBron-assisted three, then blew past his defender to throw down his hardest dunk in quite a long time. For as lackadaisical as his passes were, he was moving around the court great.
- Another thing that wasn’t too surprising was a pretty apathetic effort from the Sixers’ starters defensively. Which is totally fine, they were playing second-stringers in a preseason game. The moments they did decide to just envelop the ball handler and rip it away from him was fun to watch. It seems like a technique Maxey wants to learn more of from Brown in particular. Maxey got a couple transition opportunities thanks to a steal of that sort and a LeBron block.
- It’s been a mixed bag of a preseason for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Not only has his age shown in moments, but he’s made some mistakes not befitting of a veteran like his foul on a three-point shooter earlier in the quarter. By just standing in the corner he’s already a better floor spacer than forwards in previous years, and he poked free a steal and drew an offensive foul on back-to-back possessions. With Edwards having the preseason he is, it doesn’t seem like anyone will be challenging his rotation spot for now.
- The starters played almost, if not all of the quarter, and they finally looked the level ahead of the competition they were supposed to. The combination of Embiid and Maxey both getting into a groove offensively covered up a lot. Walker continued his strong camp with a couple nice finishes at the basket as the Sixers ended the third up 10.
Fourth Quarter
- Maxey, Embiid and James’ nights were done, but Brown’s surprisingly wasn’t. He hit a tough midrange that stopped an 8-0 Boston run. He got to the line a few possessions later but missed both shots. His night would end about a minute later. The big positive from this stretch was the two bounce passes Philon made to cutters, one of which went to Brown.
- Philon made a difficult floater in traffic, then made another slick bounce pass to Walker cutting down the lane. Walker made a nice drive for an and-1 on the following possession. It was very encouraging play from those two as the Sixers’ offense had began to lose steam as the stars left the game.
- The Celtics reserves looked pretty motivated to pull this win out, and looked to be in good shape to do so until Philon hit a bail-out three with three minutes to go. The crowd got just as into it when Jameer Nelson Jr. got two steals to keep the Sixers on the seesaw.
- Dillon Jones had the chance to put the Sixers up three with an and-1, but missed the free throw and Ron Harper Jr. tied the game on the ensuing possession. Philon made a pretty move to try to take the lead with 30 seconds left, but his layup attempt just rolled out. Jones made up for his miss by stealing the ball away. Philon dribbled out the clock, kicked to Edwards for the three at the buzzer, but it went wide to send the preseason finale to an extra period.
Overtime
- Nelson grabbed another steal that led to another Jones layup. The Sixers only scored one more basket for the rest of overtime. Justin Edwards couldn’t even get a putback layup to fall. That will do it for the preseason, it’s time for some games that count.
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