Edgecombe's 34 most in debut since Wilt in '59

BOSTON -- Sixers rookie VJ Edgecombe wasted nary clip making his people successful the NBA, scoring 34 points successful his debut to assistance Philadelphia rally to bushed the Boston Celtics 117-116 successful their play opener Wednesday night.

Edgecombe scored the astir points successful an NBA debut since Wilt Chamberlain had 43 connected Oct. 24, 1959, and the third-most successful a debut all-time. He besides acceptable the franchise scoring grounds successful a debut, breaking Allen Iverson's people of 30.

Tyrese Maxey scored a game-high 40 points for the Sixers. Philadelphia led by 4 with 22 seconds left, but it was down to 1 erstwhile Edgecombe missed a brace of foul shots with 9.1 seconds to play. Payton Pritchard had 2 shots for the victor and missed both.

Joel Embiid played for the archetypal clip since February, scoring 4 points connected 1-of-9 shooting. The 2023 NBA MVP and a two-time league scoring champion had six rebounds successful 20 minutes arsenic helium returns aft a 2024-25 play erstwhile helium was constricted to 19 games due to the fact that of a sprained near foot, a sinus fracture and arthroscopic country connected his near knee.

Jaylen Brown returned from a hamstring wounded successful the preseason finale to people 25 points. The 2024 NBA Finals MVP is expected to transportation a heavier load this twelvemonth with chap All-Star Jayson Tatum, who watched the crippled from the seat successful thoroughfare clothes, recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon.

Derrick White scored 13 points of his 25 points successful the 3rd quarter, erstwhile the Celtics scored 16 consecutive points to crook a five-point shortage into an 11-point lead. The Celtics led 94-84 with 9 minutes remaining earlier the Sixers scored 8 consecutive points to marque it close.

The Associated Press and ESPN Research contributed to this report.