Boston Celtics at Philadelphia 76ers

The 76ers' Joel Embiid blamed his preseason falls on trips and pushes: "I'm just trying to do a better job to stay on my feet... But I feel okay." Asked if his third-quarter dunk meant he's back, he said "not really": "I thought I would never dunk again."

Jabari Walker, LeBron James and Dean Wade have played center in 76ers lineups with no true big. James said clean rebounding is the key and "we haven't logged enough minutes with it to know good or bad." Wade turned his ankle Oct. 16; James said "he'll be great."

Dean Wade rolled his ankle late in the first half of the 76ers' preseason game, but Nick Nurse called it "not major concern," saying they were "just cautious because preseason game." Nurse hopes to add "about 3 or 4 players" by Oct. 20: "I don't know if we will or not."

Joel Embiid played 29 minutes in the 76ers' preseason game, and Nick Nurse liked it: "I think that's pretty hard playing 29 minutes for him, which is— I like to see." He said Embiid shook off rust from the first game, pointing to his 8 defensive rebounds.

"Is it Tyrese and Joel and Jaylen and Labaron or whatever?" Nick Nurse doesn't yet know which 76ers combinations of Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, Jaylen Brown and Labaron Philon Jr. work. Asked if Brown will lead second-unit lineups: "Possibly. I don't know yet."

Dean Wade turned his ankle "a little bit" in the 76ers' Oct. 16 game, LeBron James said, "but he'll be great." On Joel Embiid, who wasn't healthy with Team USA, James said: "this summer, he's been the most healthy he's been a long time... he's been in all the practices."

"I guess I didn't know that, uh, I upset the Celtic fans, so I apologize for that. It's never my intention." Joe Mazzulla, asked about saying on a podcast that his goal is to be forgotten, explained he sees his job as leaving the Celtics a little better than he found them.

Opening at Madison Square Garden on the Knicks' ring night, the 76ers' Justin Edwards isn't letting go of last season: "I'm pretty sure we all remember what they did to us last year. So that's... going to be something that's going to motivate us going into that game."

Joel Embiid has been healthy and a full participant all camp, Tyrese Maxey said at 76ers practice, after "going through some stuff" last preseason. That lets them install more packages: "Changes everything. Changes everything, man." The starters have practised almost every day.