NEW YORK -- The Philadelphia 76ers fell to the Brooklyn Nets 114-108 on Thursday as they dropped to 1-1 in the preseason. However, the loss to the Nets doesn't matter. It's the preseason. It's all about preparing for the important games coming up soon.
What does matter is the Sixers saw the unofficial debut of LeBron James. The future Hall of Famer finished with 10 points, made the only official shot he took, and was 8-for-8 from the foul line. He dished out five assists and grabbed four rebounds in 18 first half minutes.
Jaylen Brown had 18 points, Tyrese Maxey had 14 points, and VJ Edgecombe had 11 points and five rebounds. Jabari Walker added eight points and seven rebounds, Dean Wade had seven points and four rebounds, and Joel Embiid had six,
three rebounds, and three assists.
Here are the three biggest takeaways following the loss:
James’ playmaking
Whenever James had the ball, the Sixers were able to find easy looks on the offensive end. Whether it was the two-man game between himself and Embiid or he was spraying it out to shooters, the Sixers were a better team in this one when he was running things on the offensive end. He and Edgecombe also worked some impressive two-man stuff and it would behoove the Sixers to just put the ball in James’ hands going forward. The Nets had no real answer for him when he decided to handle things on that end of the floor. His IQ is just incredibly impressive.
"I think it helps both offensively and defensively," Edgecombe said of James' presence. "Defensively, he's loud, he's talking. So you know if you're on an island by yourself, you know you got confidence in guarding. And then offensively, like I said, he just creates plays. And obviously, like I said, he just requires so much gravity, everyone else gets open and he don't care who scores. He already got the record. He don't care to score anymore."
Tough Embiid night
It was a tough performance for Embiid in this one as he was just unable to hold onto the ball and find a rhythm on offense. He looked a bit out of sorts, but at the same time, one can attribute that to rust. It’s the first game action he’s seen since the playoffs back in May and one has to believe he will be able to bounce back in his next action. He’s been a notoriously slow starter in his career and the Sixers will just have to help him find that rhythm again.
"I thought very good," said coach Nick Nurse. "Jo got like 23 minutes there, 24, that was good to see. I think, again, getting him out there. I thought he ran the floor pretty well. I think that he just needs to get some rust off and get out there playing, which is great to see. Obviously, he can play a lot better than that, he'd be the first one to say, but I also, I'm extremely happy he was out there with the group and I thought he was playing very hard, which was great to see."
The five starters got on the floor together
It's important for the five projected starters to get on the floor and figure out chemistry and such. The fact that Nurse and the staff was able to see what they have in the lineup of James, Brown, Embiid, Maxey, and Edgecombe is so important. There were some clunky moments as there were some tough turnovers that the Nets took the other way for easy layups and such, but that's to be expected. The Sixers now just need to take the film they have now created for themselves and then go back to the drawing board and prepare for the next opportunity.
"I think it's some good, some bad," Nurse acknowledged. "It was good to get them out there for the first time, obviously, that's kind of what the preseason is for. I think there was some really good things happening right off the bat, a bunch of back cuts and good passing. But I think it got, there were segments where we turned the ball over a lot, which you can never do. It was just a little clunky in segments, too, but again, it's preseason, it's the first time they're together. I think, you look at it as what's good, and what are the learning experiences, things that we can improve on, and just try to get them together as much as we can in the next time we get that chance and in practice."
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: 3 biggest takeaways for Sixers after preseason road loss to Nets
