Sixers’ new depth, new coach, and gritty defense was obvious in win over the Celtics

In the long run, the result of the 76ers’ first-place showdown with the Boston Celtics probably won’t mean a lot.

It was seven games into the season, and the Sixers are still early in the process of figuring things out with Nick Nurse and without James Harden. But Wednesday’s 106-103 Sixers’ victory at the Wells Fargo Center was still a little bit of a statement.

All of a sudden, people are talking about them being one of the top teams in the NBA. But no matter what the outcome, the Sixers (6-1) had everything to win against the Celtics and nothing to lose.

Everyone expected Boston (5-2) to be the top team in the Eastern Conference. Everyone thought the Milwaukee Bucks would be close behind them. Then, all of a sudden, the Sixers began the season playing better than expected, now winning six straight games.

» READ MORE: Sixers survive Celtics’ late rally to escape with marquee early-season victory

Joel Embiid, once again, showed why he’s the reigning MVP. The center finished with 27 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, and four blocks. In the process, 7-foot-2, 280-pounder became the first Sixer to average 30 points and 10 rebounds through his first seven games of a season since Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain in 1965-66.

Tyrese Maxey put the Celtics on notice that his success in the first six games wasn’t the result of playing against inferior competition. The fourth-year guard, who had well documented struggles against Boston in the past, finished with 25 points, five assists, nine rebounds, two blocks, and just one turnover.

The Sixers showed some grit, battling back from an early 11-point deficit en route to leading by as many at 15 points with 3 minutes, 44 seconds remaining. But Boston made things interesting, closing the gap to 104-100 with 1:01 left thanks to a 13-2 run.

Embiid responded with a 19-foot turnaround jumper with 38.8 seconds left and proceeded to stare down and yap at Boston assistant Sam Cassell, a former Sixers assistant, while backpeddling down the court.

The Celtics were still not going away. Jaylen Brown buried a three on the ensuing possession before blocking Maxey’s shot. After the Sixers got the ball back, Maxey shot an airball as the shot clock expired. So the Celtics regained possession down three with 8.5 seconds left. But Kristaps Porziņģis front-rimmed a three-pointer, and the Sixers escaped with the win.

“A win is a win, but that was a bad ending,” Embiid said.

But this victory still confirmed that the Sixers are an elite team.

» READ MORE: Nicolas Batum admits he hated playing against Joel Embiid before joining the Sixers

“Listen, I think that we got an interesting team,” Nurse said. “You know, we got an emerging young star in Tyrese. We got an unbelievable, unbelievable player in Joel. And we got a lot of athletes that are pretty talented around them that gives us some depth.

“I’m not caught up in that. I just focus on the team I got. I just like this group a lot. They play hard. They play together. And they’re fun to be around right now.”

Both teams headed into the contest with 5-1 records — the Sixers losing to the Bucks on opening night by just one point, 118-117, and the Celtics dropping a 114-109 overtime decision to Minnesota. But the belief is the Sixers have more room to grow once they form an identity.

At least in the immediate future, it’s probably going to be tough for Nurse to see whom he can play.

The new coach likes what Furkan Korkmaz is doing. He’s also been giving Jaden Springer a chance because Nurse likes how hard he works. Even though Springer has been inconsistent offensively, Nurse likes and wants to develop the reserve guard. Against Boston, though, Korkmaz played just 3:09 while Springer didn’t play.

But then you have new acquisitions Robert Covington, Marcus Morris, KJ Martin, and Nicolas Batum all coming over from the Los Angeles Clippers in last week’s trade that sent Harden and P.J. Tucker to L.A.

Defensively, they were solid against the Celtics, especially on the perimeter where Boston made just 15 of 47 threes.

They put the clamps of Boston’s All-NBA wing tandem of Brown and Jayson Tatum. Brown finished a season-low-tying 11 points on 4-for-13 shooting. He also committed four turnovers. Meanwhile, Tatum had a season-low 16 points on 6-for-14 shooting. He came into the contest averaging 30.5 points and had scored 30 or more points in each of his previous four games.

Offensively, they have Embiid, Maxey, Tobias Harris, and Kelly Oubre as a solid scoring foursome. However, Nurse will need to figure out what to do with Oubre. Even though he’s in the starting lineup, it’s conceivable that Batum could replace him there.

Batum doesn’t need the ball, is a decent defender, has a high basketball IQ, and can hit open shots.

With Batum starting, Oubre can come in and provide a boost off the bench. It’s not that Batum is the better player; it’s just that he’s a better option to play alongside the other starting four, including De’Anthony Melton.

So don’t be surprised at some point to see Batum start, and Oubre taking on the sixth-man role.

» READ MORE: Why Nick Nurse wants to see more aggression from Tyrese Maxey despite a hot start

Right now, Melton and Maxey are a pretty solid backcourt. They can defend and score, even though Melton is in an early-season shooting slump. He missed 8 of 9 shots on Wednesday night. Harris is playing well. He was 10th in the NBA in field-goal percentage (.632) entering the game.

How will Nurse use all of the pieces moving forward?

“I was going say another week, 10 days, probably,” Nurse said of finalizing a rotation. “I’m probably wrong on some of my thoughts. Where I’m at today, I evaluated what I’ve seen, and we made our decisions. Are all those going to be right? Probably not. We’ll probably adjust it and tweak it. [As]... we go over the next three or four more games, we’ll get some more information.

“But maybe we will be right. That will be cool when we are all set with our rotations. But that will probably be a little fluid for now.”

The Sixers will look to see what Morris has left. The North Philly native knows how to play and is tough. He’s a little bit like Tucker in that toughness area. He’ll defend and make a shot. Morris is actually a better all-around player than Tucker. And you have Covington, who has played here before and is a proven perimeter defender.

Nurse is going to have to expand his rotation. Instead of eight or nine players, he might have to play nine or 10. Against the Celtics, Patrick Beverley, Korkmaz, Reed, Covington, and Batum all contributed off the bench especially on the defensive end.

But Boston has more high-end talent.

The Celtics have All-NBA wing players in Jayson Tatum and Brown. Derrick White and Jrue Holiday may be the best backcourt in the NBA. Porziņģis has played well, scoring a team-high 29 points on Wednesday. He’ll stretch the floor, forcing opposing centers to cover him away from the basket. That creates space to drive for Tatum and Brown.

Boston’s starting five is better, but it doesn’t have a deep bench. That’s something the Celtics may need to address during the course of the season.

“I don’t think [this win] is a certain message to us,” Beverley said. “We know exactly who we are. We compete every day. We are deep as [crap]. We are really deep. We know what we have. We’re really deep. So we know what we have.

“I guess everyone else is kind of finding out right now. But it’s up to us to continue to work hard, stay humble, keep our heads down and continue to follow the lead of Nick Nurse, and we’ve been doing that.”