Led by a spry Joel Embiid, Sixers’ defense passes first test

While it may have been hard to predict just where the Sixers would shake out in a loaded Eastern Conference, it felt easy to forecast what their glaring strengths and weaknesses would be. They have an overwhelming amount of offensive talent, hopefully enough to overcome defensive issues that can come with relying on aging veterans with shaky injury histories.

You can imagine everyone’s surprise when their first win of the season was going into Madison Square Garden and defeating the defending champions in a grind-it-out slugfest on Banner Night. Both teams shot under 42% from the field and both of them went 33% on their three-point attempts.

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It might not have been what the average viewer expected, but it’s the type of performance the Sixers will have to put together often to achieve the lofty goals they have for this roster.

“Defense is what kept us in the game,” said Jaylen Brown after the game. “Defense is what we’re gonna have to continue to hang our hats on. [If] we keep a team around 100, we’ll always have a chance to win, so it’s a non-negotiable — gotta play defense.”

Tyrese Maxey, who finished the game with three big steals as well as three blocks, thought the team was really good at communicating and switching assignments for their first game out there as a new unit.

“It felt pretty good,” Maxey said. “This is a very competitive group. We take pride in being able to switch and kind of guard the yard, and we’re gonna help each other as well.”

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The big adjustment the Sixers made in the second half was taking Joel Embiid off of Karl-Anthony Towns and having LeBron James guard the big man. This put Embiid on a non-shooter in Josh Hart, allowing the center to become a roamer.

“It’s kind of common to put a four-man on KAT because there’s so many pick-and-rolls with him and [Jalen] Brunson,” head coach Nick Nurse explained after the game. “That gives you some versatility to play some other coverages.”

That’s a look the Sixers have tried to employ in the past against the Knicks since they’ve acquired Towns — they’ve just lacked the four strong enough to not get pushed around by…

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Publish date : 2026-10-21 13:42:00

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