Philadelphia 76ers: 3 takeaways from 2018-19 season opener

1. Simmons controlled tempo, but not flow on offense

Ben Simmons had a positive start to his second season in the league. For the most part, he did whatever he wanted and got wherever he wanted on the floor. He finished the game with a near triple-double, racking up 19 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists on 7-of-14 (50 percent) shooting from the field.

He would have had a whole lot more assists, but his team had some shooting woes on offense to contend with. Robert Covington went 3-for-10 from the field and 2-for-7 from 3-point land. Embiid went 1-for-4 from 3-point territory, although he finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds.

As a team, the Sixers shot 5-for-26 (19.2 percent) from behind the arc. Just three different players on the roster made a 3-pointer in the game. When Philadelphia isn’t clicking from behind the arc, its usual bread and butter is on the fast break. Fourteen of the Sixers’ 16 fast break points came in the first half. In the second half, the Celtics did a much better job limiting Simmons’ ability to get out and run the break, and it showed in the final deficit.

Even though the Sixers outscored Boston 50-34 in the paint, five different players on the Celtics finished scoring in double figures and seven different players made at least one 3-pointer.

Philadelphia will need to start playing with more flow going forward and a lot of that comes with understanding roles and depth in the rotation, and it starts with Simmons controlling it all. While the Celtics played with a playoff level of confidence, the Sixers looked a bit shell-shocked, relying mostly on isolation basketball in the season opener.