On Wednesday night, the Philadelphia 76ers opened up the regular season against Atlantic division rival, Boston Celtics. This season of Sixers basketball will be another year of rebuilding but they will do it with rookie big man Jahlil Okafor, who they selected with the third overall pick in this summer’s NBA Draft. Okafor did not disappoint in his debut as he exceeded everyone’s expectations including head coach Brett Brown, who was impressed. He almost scored 30 points and was perfect from the charity strike. Despite, his big night, the Sixers fell to the Celtics 115-92. Here are three takeaways from the Sixers regular season opener.
1. The future is now with Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor
If Wednesday night was any indicator on how Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor will play together this season, we will be in store for some great play in the post. Noel, who is coming off his rookie season last year, averaged 9.9 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, looks to have taken his game to the next level.
On Wednesday night, against the Celtics, Noel posted a double-double consisting of 14 points and 12 rebounds. He also had two blocks and three steals, which is a huge part of his game. He even showed basketball fans that he is working on a mid-range jumper, which will help out Okafor, when teams think about double teaming him in the paint.
On the other hand, Okafor started off the game on fire, going right at Celtics forward Tyler Zeller scoring 10 straight points. That is the type of dominance we saw from him in the Summer League and it looks like it has carried over to the regular season. As mentioned earlier, Okafor finished the game with 26 points, seven rebounds, 10-of-16 from the field, and a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line. Those numbers he posted on Wednesday night put him in rare company when it comes to a historical perspective.
Since ’85, David Robinson (23 PTS) is the only starting C to score more points in an NBA debut than Jahlil Okafor (20 PTS).
7 mins left.
— max (@MaxOnTwitter) October 29, 2015
Okafor finishes with 26 points. That’s the 11th-most points for anyone in an NBA debut since 1963.
2nd-most for a C behind KAJ (29 PTS)
— max (@MaxOnTwitter) October 29, 2015
Now, do not expect Okafor to post these types of numbers every game because he is a rookie and teams will make adjustments. But his career is already off to a great start.
2. Turnovers reared their ugly head in the season opener
The Sixers got off to a good start on Wednesday night but as the game continued the Celtics started to have their way. The reason for this was turnovers combined with poor shooting. According to CSNPhilly.com’s Sixers Insider Dei Lynam, last season, the Sixers each of the last two seasons were ranked 30th in highest numbers of turns. On Wednesday night, the Sixers had 24 turnovers, which led to 34 points for Boston. The Celtics also had 26 fastbreak points, which means the Sixers have to get better with transition defense.
The Sixers must cut down on their turnovers, if they want to win this season but it also shows that this is still signs of a young team developing.
3. Isaiah Canaan has a strong showing as the team’s starting point guard
With both Kendall Marshall and Tony Wroten out for the foreseeable future, Isaiah Canaan is the Sixers starting point guard. Canaan had a strong showing Wednesday night going up against Marcus Smart and Avery Bradley. Canaan finished the game with 18 points, seven rebounds and two assists. He also shot 40 percent from three-point range, as he made 4 out of the 7 made threes by the Sixers.
The Sixers will need Canaan to keep on bringing offense from the point guard position until Marshall and Wroten are ready to go.
On Friday night, the Sixers will be taking on the Utah Jazz at 7:00 pm ET on Comcast Sportsnet in their regular season home opener.
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