The 76ers ended their preseason Friday night with a 125-120 overtime loss to the Celtics in South Philadelphia. Joel Embiid led Philadelphia with 27 points on 7-of-13 shooting, and 11-of-13 at the line. He added 8 rebounds and 5 assists in 29 minutes, and he also had 4 turnovers.

ESPN reported that VJ Edgecombe was held out. In his absence, coach Nick Nurse gave what ESPN called the closest look yet at this season's team, with LeBron James and Embiid both playing preseason highs in minutes. ESPN's headline quoted the team as "still working on our rhythm." The box score has James at 25 minutes with 8 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 turnovers. He shot 0-of-3 from the line. Yahoo's Ian Casselberry framed it as James' home preseason debut and argued that Embiid, not James, is the team's star. Yahoo also said Embiid and Tyrese Maxey stood out in the third quarter. Maxey finished with 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting, and Jaylen Brown had 20 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks. Liberty Ballers' Erin Grugan said the starters looked sharp, but that the regular lineup was only four-fifths intact. Yahoo's game recap called the game "fun but sloppy."

The sloppiness shows in the numbers. Philadelphia made 7 of 38 threes (18%) and lost the rebounding battle 63-46, including 18 offensive boards for Boston to the Sixers' 5. The Sixers did lead for 63 percent of the game, with a largest lead of 14, and they outscored Boston 52-44 in the paint. They also shot 31 free throws to Boston's 20. The game still went to overtime, and Boston won the extra period 10-5.

Boston's reserves decided it. Sportsnet credited Hugo Gonzalez with 21 points off the bench in 19 minutes. Our box score has him at 20 minutes, with 6-of-10 shooting and 3-of-7 from three. Ron Harper Jr. added 16 points but needed 20 shots, and he made 1 of 9 threes. Milos Uzan scored 14. Luka Garza had 13 points and Chris Cenac Jr. 12. Cenac fouled out with six fouls in 19 minutes.

The result continued a rough stretch for Philadelphia. The Sixers have lost their last two games and were beaten 144-106 at Boston on Oct. 10, after a 114-108 loss at Brooklyn on Oct. 8. Boston has won three in a row, including a 114-93 win over Charlotte on Wednesday. Our standings have the Celtics first in the Atlantic and the Sixers fourth.

Edgecombe's absence is the main question going into the regular season. He played 75 games last season, started all of them and averaged 35.0 minutes. The reporting we have does not say why he sat Friday or whether his status has changed. Philadelphia plays at New York on Tuesday, Oct. 20. Boston plays at Detroit the same night.