On a night when the entire team celebrated with Quentin Grimes after he hit the deciding shot, a few things became clear about the Sixers.

The 76ers have typically struggled without Joel Embiid, but they've flipped the script so far this season, and the star center is relieved.

Even with Joel Embiid seeing limited action, the Philadelphia 76ers have opened the 2025-26 season with back-to-back wins. The Sixers edged out a 117-116 win over the Boston Celtics to start their campaign,

Despite an injury to Brandon Miller, the Hornets led the 76ers in the fourth quarter Saturday night before appearing to run out of steam.

Quentin Grimes made a clutch shot in the final seconds of reglation during the 76ers' win over the Hornets on Saturday night.

Maybe it’s time to start taking the Philadelphia 76ers seriously again. Two games into the new season, the Sixers are 2-0, and they’ve done it behind teamwork and explosive scoring rather than big names.

With all of the eyes on the rookies Kon Knueppel and Ryan Kalkbrenner, plus the return of Brandon Miller and the first game for Collin Sexton in Charlotte, LaMelo's 20-point performance flew a little under the radar. Ball also dished out eight assists and pulled down a pair of rebounds.

More alarmingly, the Sixers lost Embiid's court time by a total of 16 points. Sure, he has turned in worse plus-minus performances over the course of his career. But this is the first time Philly was minus-16 or worse with him in the game when he played under 21 minutes.

Philadelphia 76ers center Andre Drummond credited an intense offseason as one of the driving forces behind the team's hot start.