Philadelphia, PA — The NBA Cup has finally arrived, and for the Philadelphia 76ers, so did a chance to begin the season with their best record since the 2019-20 NBA season. The Sixers hosted the Boston Celtics in their first taste of cup action in 2025.
Tyrese Maxey and rookie VJ Edgecombe made history when the Sixers visited the Celtics in Boston to open up the season. After falling 117-116 in a come-from-behind victory in Philly's favor, Jaylen Brown and the Celtics came in ready for revenge, following two straight victories over the Pelicans and Cavaliers, respectively.
The Celtics came out firing, growing a strong lead early on largely thanks to the efforts of star Jaylen Brown and guard Payton Pritchard. The Celtics would finish the first quarter with a 13-point lead, and it would soon look as if Boston would run away with the game, building up as much as a 24-point lead in the second quarter.
From there, the comeback effort began as the Sixers went on a 17-4 run to end the quarter. Despite still being down by double-digits, Philadelphia's comeback effort was in full effect.
The Sixers stepped up defensively, stifling Boston while finding their range from beyond the arc. Philadelphia began the matchup just 4/14 from deep, but would go on to shoot 9/20 from three thereafter.
Tyrese Maxey paced the Sixers with 26 points while tying a career-high with 14 assists. Joel Embiid played a season-high 25 minutes, scoring 20 points and showing off an array of moves offensively. Rookie VJ Edgecombe began the game rather meekly, but found his confidence as the Sixers began their comeback efforts.
While the Sixers managed to turn around their shooting and defensive fortunes, the team continued to struggle with turnovers throughout the night, constantly giving the Celtics a way to stay in the game and even keep their lead.
With just over 20 seconds left, the Sixers pulled within one and following a brilliant defensive stand, they had the opportunity to retake the lead with just over 11 seconds remaining.
As the Sixers often do when inbounding the ball with little time, they set up Tyrese Maxey in the deep backcourt to allow him to pick up plenty of speed, giving him an advantage over the opposition.
Maxey would ultimately come up short on a drive against Celtics big man Xavier Tillman, but back-to-back missed free throws by Josh Minott gave Philadelphia one last chance with just over three seconds on the clock.
Looking for Tyrese Maxey in the half court, inbounder Kelly Oubre could not find an opening, opting for the second look on the play, a streaking Quentin Grimes, who was playing the aforementioned Maxey role in the inbound.
Grimes, not yet accustomed to that role, struggled as he was quickly doubled and could not quickly find an open man, opting to pass to Joel Embiid, who was unable to get a shot up in time.
This marks the Sixers' first loss of the season, though it continues to show that no matter who they play, the Sixers are prepared to fight back every night. Although tonight also proved that winning games from behind, as the Sixers have all season, is simply not sustainable. However, the effort they put in is.
The Sixers will next head up to Brooklyn to face off against the winless Nets (0-5). Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 2.
