LeBron James sat at the same cubby he has for years in the visitors locker room at Barclays Center.
His jersey still had No. 23 stitched on the front and back. And when he shook talcum powder into his hands at center court for his pregame chalk toss, throngs of fans held up their cell phones as they always have to record the ritual as per ESPN.
But Thursday night’s game between Philadelphia 76ers and Brookyln Nets was anything but old hat for the 24-year veteran who made his preseason debut with the fourth — and likely last — franchise of his career.
“I mean, it felt a little different,” James said after Philadelphia’s 114-108 loss. “Obviously, just wearing a new uniform, but the game is the game. … And I was happy to be able to log some minutes with the guys that we’ve been going at each other in practice for the last two weeks.”
It was also the preseason debut for the Sixers’ planned starting lineup of Joel Embiid, Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe flanking the 41-year-old star. The unit outscored the Nets by two points in the 10 minutes it was on the court in the first half.
James made an immediate impact with his passing, finding a streaking Edgecombe with a three-quarter-court feed to set up the second-year guard for a layup just more than a minute into the game.
“Someone like him just requires so much gravity and attracts so much attention that I just got to play off of him,” said Edgecombe, who finished with 11 points. “And that’s cutting, running the floor, spotting up, whatever. So, yeah, he just — we made eye contact and I knew what that meant.”
James played 18 minutes, all in the first half, and finished with 10 points, four rebounds and a team-high five assists. Philadelphia outscored Brooklyn by 10 in James’ minutes.
He attempted only one field goal, which he made, and the rest of his points came at the foul line, where he went 8-for-8.
“He already got the [scoring] record,” Edgecombe joked. “He don’t care to score anymore.”
During training camp last week, Sixers coach Nick Nurse said he looks at James’ role not necessarily as a point forward but as an “offense creator” for Philadelphia.
He did plenty of creating for others against Brooklyn, with Brown (18 points on 5-for-9 shooting) and Maxey (14 points on 5-for-8 shooting) also reaching double digits.
“He’s a great, great passer; it was certainly on display tonight,” Nurse said. “There were a couple of long ones for layups, he threw some middle ones for layups and he threw some in the quarter court, guys cutting. … It was good. I thought he really read the game well.”
The one Sixers starter who struggled was Embiid, who scored just six points on 1-for-5 shooting and coughed up eight turnovers in 24 minutes.
“I got to do a better job of taking care of the ball,” Embiid said. “But [it was the] first game. My first few games usually every year [are like this]. So yeah, it’s going to take a few games to get going and just got to do a better job.”
Still, Nurse said Embiid’s mere inclusion after all the injuries that sidelined him the past few seasons was a positive.
“Obviously, he can play a lot better than that,” Nurse said. “He’d be the first one to say. But also, I’m extremely happy he was out there with the group, and I thought he was playing very hard, which was great to see.”
Brown said he and Embiid need to “figure some things out in terms of spacing” to help each other flow offensively.
They also need to avoid running into each other, as they did in the first half, when Embiid fell to the floor and Brown, trying to avoid him, also spilled onto the court.
Philadelphia has two preseason games remaining: at the Boston Celtics on Saturday and at home against Boston on Oct. 16.
Nurse said he plans to play his starters again in one of those two games and extend their minutes into the second half. Sources told ESPN that the starters are more likely to play in the finale.
For as different as it all feels for James right now, the Sixers showed flashes of familiarity with one another on the court — which is what the preseason is for, especially for a group as new as this one.
“We’re still trying to put each other in a position to be successful and complement each other the best way we can out on the floor,” James said. “But it’s going to take some time. Tonight was a good sample size for us to build on.”
Culled from ESPN
