The Philadelphia 76ers’ 7-1 start raises an obvious question: how much of it is sustainable, and how much is early-season fortune? The answer, based on this week’s results, points to a roster that has found real chemistry between its top talent but has also leaned heavily on comebacks that may not hold up over an 82-game schedule.
Philadelphia moved to 6-1 with a 109-104 win over the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday, then improved further with a 98-93 victory over the New York Knicks on Friday night in an NBA Cup group game. Both results came with warning signs attached. The Hornets win required erasing a double-digit deficit, the fourth time this season the 76ers have needed to do that. Against the Knicks, Philadelphia won despite the starting five having played together just three times.
Maxey’s Emergence As The Clear No. 1 Option
Tyrese Maxey is the 76ers’ leading scorer this season and the engine behind the start. He scored 27 points against the Knicks and followed with a clutch fourth quarter against the Indiana Pacers, posting 17 points in the final period that included two three-pointers in the last 70 seconds. He is averaging 37 minutes per game, third-most in the league.
That workload is not new territory for Maxey. He led the league in minutes per game last season at 38 per night and has averaged 37 or more in each of the two previous seasons. He carried that same burden last year when Joel Embiid’s availability was inconsistent and Paul George was suspended, a stretch that still produced his second All-Star selection and first All-NBA honors.
What has changed is how Maxey is being used. “Our roster this year creates the ability for myself to be in transition more. I don’t always have to bring the ball up,” Maxey said, according to NBA.com.
“The roster presents the opportunity for me to play off the ball a little more, catch shots, come off screens.” With a deeper group of ball-handlers around him, Maxey is spending more possessions as a scorer rather than a primary initiator, a shift that could reduce wear over the long season even at his heavy minute total.
LeBron James And Joel Embiid Anchoring The Half Court
At 41 years old, LeBron James produced 20 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in the win over the Knicks, numbers that reflect his role as a connector rather than a primary scorer. According to Yahoo Sports, Philadelphia’s half-court offense is built around James and Embiid as central pieces, with ball movement spread widely enough that the roster’s top talent consistently gets good looks rather than funneling everything through one option.
The same report credited James and Embiid’s communication and weakside rotations for giving the defense a foundation, with both players positioned to disrupt opposing sets rather than simply react to them. Staggered lineups have also let Philadelphia share minutes among its top players, a structure the Yahoo Sports piece says keeps the offensive flow intact even when the full starting group is not on the floor together.
A Deep Roster With Multiple Finals MVPs
Part of why the 76ers can distribute the ball so widely is the sheer level of talent on the roster, which includes multiple MVPs and NBA Finals MVPs. That depth of accomplishment allows Philadelphia to move pieces in and out of the lineup, as it did with Jaylen Brown missing the Knicks game with left knee soreness, without a complete drop-off in overall quality.
The Knicks game itself doubled as a measuring-stick result. Philadelphia has now beaten the defending NBA champion Knicks twice this season, with Jalen Brunson scoring 24 points and Karl-Anthony Towns adding 22 in the loss. Brunson appeared to roll an ankle late in that game, an incident that bears watching for New York but does not change what Philadelphia accomplished on the scoreboard.
The Comeback Pattern Is The Real Counterpoint
The strongest argument against reading too much into the 7-1 record is the recurring need for comebacks. Erasing a double-digit deficit four times this season, most recently against Charlotte, suggests slow starts that a more disciplined opponent could eventually punish before Philadelphia finds its rhythm. Maxey addressed the pattern directly after the Hornets game.
“I don’t want to do that; I’m tired of that,” he said, according to Sporting News. “This group some fighters, man. We went up, went down, came back, you know, we’re very competitive.
The game’s not over ’til it’s over, and that’s what I really like about this group.”
Maxey’s comment frames the comebacks as a sign of competitive character, and the results back that framing so far. But a team that regularly needs to climb out of double-digit holes is also a team that is not yet playing complete 48-minute games, a gap that tougher competition is more likely to expose.
What To Watch Next
The lineup continuity question looms largest. With the starting five having played together only three times through the Knicks win, how quickly Philadelphia settles into a consistent group will shape whether the early chemistry between James, Embiid and Maxey translates into fewer slow starts. Brown’s left knee soreness and Brunson’s ankle issue from the Knicks game are both situations worth tracking as the 76ers continue their schedule, alongside whether the comeback trend narrows as the starting group gets more reps together.
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