76ers vs. Celtics: 10 Observations Following Sixers' Preseason Opener

PHILADELPHIA, PA -- The Philadelphia 76ers hit the court on Tuesday night for the first time since getting eliminated from the 2020 NBA Playoffs down in the bubble. Ironically, Philly's first preseason opponent happened to be the team that knocked them out of the postseason last year, the Boston Celtics.

Was it a revenge game? Not exactly, but the Sixers did manage to pick up the victory by winning 108-99 after a slow start. Now that the first of two preseason games is in the books for the Sixers, how did everything look under new head coach, Doc Rivers?

The Starting Lineup

Doc Rivers didn't throw any curveballs when it came to the Sixers' starting lineup. Last week when he was asked if Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Danny Green, Tobias Harris, and Joel Embiid were the starting five, and he joked by saying he just might use that.

Well, Rivers went with the obvious lineup. Over the years, Seth Curry has been known to come off the bench, but in Philly, the veteran sharpshooter is looking to expand his game as he has more to offer outside of just shooting threes.

No Fans

As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, the Sixers aren't allowed to have fans in the seats for the start of the preseason. So, just as they did in the bubble, the 76ers pumped in some artificial crowd noise to give the game an authentic feel. The effort is appreciated, but it's just not the same.

Dwight Howard's Vocal Leadership

The 2020 NBA Champion, Dwight Howard, made it clear that when he comes to Philly to play for the Sixers, he's looking to take on a leadership role and intends to teach and motivate in addition to backing up Joel Embiid at center.

From the jump, Howard was active in leading -- even from the bench. The veteran couldn't remain seated throughout the first quarter of the game and never stopped being vocal throughout the entire matchup.

The Second Unit

Doc Rivers has praised Shake Milton more than anybody outside of the starting lineup lately. And Furkan Korkmaz seems to be another one of the head coach's favorites as well. As expected, those two were the first to check-in in the first quarter. Howard then followed after Embiid played nearly nine minutes.

Veteran forward Mike Scott received the backup minutes at power forward, while Simmons remained in the game for a little while longer. Once Simmons was ready to head to the bench after ten-straight minutes, the second-year guard Matisse Thybulle made his first appearance.

Early Frustration for the Sophomore

Speaking of Thybulle, he seemed to get quite frustrated early on. On defense, Thybulle made a couple of mistakes, which made it hard for him to get out of his head. The second-year guard didn't register any early steals as he typically would, and he took just one shot in under six minutes of action in the first half.

The Point Guards

Doc Rivers said the Sixers would not be a point guard-oriented offense as most of the guards on the team could technically get the offense started as ball-handlers. However, he did refer to Ben Simmons as the team's "facilitator," pretty much confirming he would most likely be the team's starting point guard after getting moved to power forward during the NBA's restart last summer.

Shake Milton, who started at point guard for some time last year, looks to be the Sixers' backup point guard. Some have suggested the 76ers might look to sign a veteran to come in and fill the role, but Doc Rivers seems comfortable with keeping Milton as the backup ball-handler so far.

Not a Step Behind

Joel Embiid has proved his dominance on offense ever since he joined the Sixers years ago. As a whole, the Sixers got off to an expected shaky start on offense. Embiid personally didn't seem to be rusty at all, though.

The big man checked in for nearly 17 minutes in the first two quarters. He drained six of 14 shots from the field for a game-high of 18 points in the first half during that time. At that point, Rivers saw enough -- Embiid wrapped up the night and never appeared on the court in the second half.

Shake Milton is Living up to the Hype

Doc Rivers and Dwight Howard had praised Shake Milton since the beginning of training camp a couple of weeks ago. The bar has been high for Milton, who had a monster emergence late last season, and the third-year guard didn't disappoint in his preseason debut on Tuesday.

In 23 minutes off the bench, Milton knocked down eight of his 14 field-goal attempts for a team-high of 19 points. He looked good shooting from beyond-the-arc as he went 3-6, and was also quite aggressive and fearless getting to the rim. The Milton hype train is real so far this offseason.

Is Simmons Shooting?

No. Last year, Simmons felt the pressure of the Philly crowd and drained a healthy three-pointer during the team's first preseason game. This year, we didn't see the same results. Simmons had a quiet scoring night with ten points in 26 minutes.

When Embiid was out of the game in the second half, Simmons was starting to get more aggressive on offense driving to the basket -- but after 26 minutes of action, Rivers pulled the fourth-year guard out of the game to take the rest of the night off.

Maxey Mania?

Tyrese Maxey had all eyes on him when he checked in at the beginning of the fourth quarter. After all, he was the Sixers' first-round pick this season. At first, Maxey seemed jittery, but once he settled in, he lived up to the first-round hype.

The rookie played in all 12 minutes of the fourth quarter. On the floor, the former Kentucky guard put up six shots and drained four of them for a total of eight points. Following the game, Doc Rivers mentioned that if Maxey can continue putting a performance like that on display, he'll earn himself some regular-season minutes.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_