'It's a good sign': 76ers stars overcome adversity together in historic comeback win

Deconstructing this game — historical comebacks aside — it’s clear that Philadelphia’s playmaking structure will be a fluid entity in the coming weeks (and maybe months). The first half featured all of the worst aspects that come with an assemblage of transcendent talent. Aside from some occasional movement on the perimeter, the ball seemed to stick a bit too much. 

Some of that is attributed to Brown. He’s never been particularly regarded as a connective tissue type relative to his usage, and on a new team it’s understandable that the former Finals MVP would want to play himself into a role and rhythm. But oftentimes it came as a detriment to the group. Having LeBron James around should help clean up ball movement issues, but it’s more important that those habits continue when he’s not on the floor. (In 10 first-quarter possessions with James on the bench, the 76ers were a minus-8, with one assist and a pair of turnovers.)

The good news is that it’s not solely attributable to selfishness. This is a relatively new relationship for half of the quartet and, in the opening minutes, it was apparent that each star was trying to empower the other with James acting as a centripetal force. Eventually, all roads led back to Tyrese Maxey (who finished with 32 points on 23 shots) — as they should — and the 76ers were all able to settle into a role.

It also helped that the more the ball was in Maxey’s hands, the more apt Philly became at creating paint touches, taking advantage of Jarrett Allen’s bench minutes and attacking Evan Mobley and Jordan Tyson. Once the game was settled, the stars were able to find phases of individual dominance to fortify their lead; Joel Embiid taking advantage of smaller matchups around the elbows, James catching and going on the wing, and Maxey and Brown getting into the teeth of the defense to cause general disruption. 

(One area where Nurse might want to tinker with is his substitution patterns concerning Maxey and Brown. If the bulk of the offensive juice is to come from them, taking them both out and leaving James and Embiid surrounded with shooters sounds inventive in theory, but it’s equivalent to taking a fish out of water.)

“It should flow organically like it did, especially in the second half,” James said. “We should never have to put pressure on ourselves to feel like we have to do too much offensively. When a guy has a good rhythm, try to feed them. But it comes down to the system of the offense and doesn’t look forced.”

Where the game truly changed for the 76ers, and an area they should wholeheartedly lean into as their offense continues to come together, is their defensive point-of-attack aggression. Aside from the starters — who finished as a plus-18 in 17 minutes together — nearly every positive five-man pairing had Kentavious Caldwell-Pope on the floor. Reserve big Adem Bona also made the most of his 13 minutes, giving Philly a more agile and mobile big than Embiid, allowing the smaller guards to ramp up ball pressure, switch and blitz. Following the game, the Cavaliers spoke about some of those changes that caught them by surprise, resulting in 21 turnovers. 

The fine line between making bold statements in October and creating data points for later is rather delicate, but this is an extremely intriguing 76ers team that should only continue to find stability as they spend more time with each other on the floor. Their star depth will allow the likes of James and Embiid to earn much-needed rest (neither played more than 35 minutes, which is what Nurse wants) and Maxey and Brown should be able to express themselves at all levels. There will be games where their star-studded structure is truly tested, but so far, they’ve handled the early, important tests and are growing in confidence and poise. 

“That’s how you handle adversity,” Brown said. “It’s not gonna be perfect. All year, we gotta be able to handle adversity well and we’ll be alright. It’s a good sign.”