The 76ers entered Friday night’s contest against the Boston Celtics as one of four remaining unbeaten teams in the league. Despite being outscored 38–25 in the first quarter and trailing by as many as 20 points in the first half, Philadelphia mounted a strong comeback, outscoring Boston in each of the final three quarters. Still, it wasn’t quite enough, as the 4–0 Sixers came up just one basket short on Halloween night, falling 109–108.
Sixers fans nearly witnessed another dramatic rally like the one against Washington earlier in the week, when Philadelphia erased a 16-point fourth-quarter deficit to win. Unfortunately, history didn’t repeat itself this time. In the closing moments, Tyrese Maxey pulled the Sixers within one point with 20.8 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. After a Boston turnover, Maxey missed a potential go-ahead shot, and the Celtics failed to convert two free throws on the ensuing possession, giving Philadelphia one final opportunity. Joel Embiid, who logged a season-high 25 minutes and finished with 20 points, had a look at a long three-pointer as time expired but couldn’t connect.
The matchup also marked the first NBA Cup game of the season for both teams, who compete in East Group B. For context, the NBA Cup is an annual in-season tournament that takes place during the regular season. It first debuted in the 2023–24 campaign as part of the league’s effort to create midseason excitement and a playoff-like atmosphere into early season games. The league’s 30 teams are divided into six groups of five for the competition and during the group stage, each team faces the other four teams in its group once, with the top team from each group advancing to the knockout round. Two additional wild-card teams (one from each conference) also move on, creating an eight-team bracket that culminates with the championship, or NBA Cup title game, in December.
Despite the loss, the Sixers once again demonstrated their trademark resilience. Multiple times this season they have shown the ability to play comeback basketball and are never truly out of the fight. Of course, no team wants to find itself in a double-digit deficit, but it’s an encouraging sign that Philadelphia continues to dig itself out of early holes.
“Tonight, we played really slow in the first quarter, we had a really bad first quarter, the rest of the three quarters, we were really good. We won every quarter after that. I think we did a really good job of, like, being resilient, but we have to put together 48-minute basketball games and once we do that, I think we’ll be even better,” shared Maxey after the game.
Maxey’s performance once again led the way for Philadelphia. The team’s leading scorer finished with 26 points, 14 assists (tying a career high) and eight rebounds, falling just two rebounds shy of his second career triple-double.
However, he also committed a team-high five turnovers, a recurring issue for the Sixers throughout the night. As a unit, Philadelphia turned the ball over 18 times, leading to 25 Boston points.
Rookie sensation VJ Edgecombe added 17 points on 7-for-11 shooting, while Kelly Oubre Jr. contributed 17 points and nine rebounds, providing another strong two-way effort in the loss.
The Sixers will begin a three-game road trip Sunday night in Brooklyn against the winless Nets (0–5). They will then travel to Chicago and Cleveland for back-to-back games on Tuesday and Wednesday before returning home to host the Toronto Raptors on Saturday, November 8.
As for the NBA Cup, Philadelphia’s next three tournament games are as follows:
- Nov. 14 – at Detroit
- Nov. 25 – vs. Orlando
- Nov. 28 – at Brooklyn
Cup games are played primarily on Fridays, with group play concluding on November 28 and the quarterfinals set for early December.
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