The Celtics showed flashes of what they can be at their best this season, but the 76ers got a historic rookie performance from VJ Edgecombe and a huge game from Tyrese Maxey to take the season opener. 

Here are the takeaways. 

VJ Edgecombe and Tyrese Maxey both looked incredible

Rookie wing VJ Edgecombe looked more than worth the Sixers’ robust tanking efforts last season in his regular-season debut. Edgecombe broke the NBA record for most points in the first quarter by a rookie with 14, surpassing LeBron James’ record of 12, and he broke the Sixers’ record for points in a rookie debut of 30 set by Allen Iverson, pouring in 34 on 13-for-26 shooting, including several earth-shaking dunks.

“For a rookie to come in, first game and put up (those numbers), it was impressive,” Derrick White said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen somebody have that in his debut, but he had a really good game.”

Point guard Tyrese Maxey, meanwhile, looked every bit up to the task of being the Sixers’ primary superstar this season, pushing the Sixers out to a halftime lead and pulling them back from the brink when Boston threatened to pull away in the fourth. Maxey finished with a massive 40-point outing, running rampant through a Celtics’ defense that struggled to get back and defend him whenever they missed shots. 

The Sixers are far from a perfect roster, but tanking last season appears to have worked wonders for them, and as The Process Pt. 1 appears to be coming to a close (more on that in a minute), they appear very well set up to begin The Process Pt. 2. 

The final play(s) were supposed to be for Jaylen Brown

After letting a double-digit lead slip away, the Celtics looked like they were done, but Edgecombe missed two late free throws that gifted them a final chance.

With eight seconds left, Derrick White struggled to inbound the ball before finally dishing to Payton Pritchard. Pritchard drove into the paint and had his shot blocked out of bounds with just over a second remaining.

On their last, last chance, the Celtics once again passed to Pritchard, who created a little space but missed the potential game-winner.

According to Pritchard, the play was designed for Jaylen Brown.

“They kind of shadowed it,” Pritchard said. “I got it, attacked, probably just made the wrong read. Anfernee (Simons and Sam (Hauser) were open on the back side, so that’s just a pass I’ve got to make.”

For his part, Mazzulla said the goal was to get the ball to the Celtics’ ball-handlers.

“We got the ball into the paint, got a decent look,” Mazzulla said. “It’s all you can do is get it to those guys, and they gave us a chance to win.”

The Celtics might regret letting that one slip

At the risk of sounding overly reductive, the Celtics really need to get wins this season when the opportunities presents themselves, and Wednesday’s game was a prime example. 

On a night when the player best suited to hurt them looked like a shell of himself, and when they built a double-digit second-half lead against a shaky roster propped up by two superhuman performances, the Celtics couldn’t claim their first win of the season. 

That puts them in a precarious position over their first seven games. Their next contest is on the road against the Knicks, who are widely considered a genuine championship contender this season. That’s the start of a three-games-in-four-night stretch, during which their most beatable opponent (the Pelicans) is the opponent they face last. They then take on the Cavaliers (another championship contender), this 76ers team again, and the Rockets (yet another championship contender, who looked like a heavyweight in their showdown against the Thunder on Tuesday). 

When the dust settles, the Celtics could be in a tough position in the standings, and while it’s still clearly very early in the season, this is not last year’s roster – digging out of an early hole will be much more difficult. 

The Jaylen Brown/Derrick White tandem debuted well

Brown and White scored 25 points apiece in their debut as the new Celtics stars. Brown dished out four assists early and shot 9-for-18 from the floor, and he played the kind of patient floor game the Celtics need from him in the absence of Jayson Tatum. 

Prior to the game, Brown was questionable with a hamstring injury suffered during preseason.

“It was fine. I thought it held up well,” Brown said. “Definitely got to do some recovery. Within the first two weeks coming back from a strain, you’ve got to make sure that you get your recovery in because that’s when the risk is at its highest.

So I’ve just got to make sure I’m focusing on my body, getting my rest, doing my recovery, and getting ready for the next game.”

White, meanwhile, went ice-cold with the rest of his teammates from three in the second quarter – at one point, the Celtics missed nine straight – but he came alive in the third, and he worked his way to the line seven times. 

Anfernee Simons looked like a nice addition

The Celtics reportedly spent the summer checking on what they could get for Simons on the trade market, and that option is still likely on the table – this is, after all, a team very much in flux – but the early returns are promising.

Simons was as advertised offensively. He hit multiple 3-pointers that barely disturbed the net on their way through, he attacked the basket in late-shot-clock situations and created offense out of nothing, and at one point in the fourth quarter, he exploded to the rim and elevated so quickly off the ground that Tyrese Maxey could only jump out of his way futilely as Simons thundered home a two-handed slam.

Boston Zoning Commission Chair Michael Nichols, who heads a downtown advocacy group, said he plans to recuse himself from Wednesday’s vote on a contentious zoning plan that would clear the way for more skyscrapers downtown.

Nichols, president of the Downtown Boston Alliance, said that although he was cleared by the state Ethics Commission to take part in the vote, he ultimately opted not to weigh in on the zoning changes proposed in PLAN: Downtown in his official capacity as chair of the Zoning Commission.

“I was able to get a state ethics opinion that held that I do not actually have any conflicts tomorrow that run afoul of state law, but I nonetheless don’t want it to be a distraction — so I’m opting not to participate,” Nichols told the Herald Tuesday.

Nichols said he sought the ethics opinion based on a potential conflict of interest he may have in voting on the downtown zoning plan due to his advocacy group’s work to “analyze the plan for so long.”

He is the chair and president of the Downtown Boston Alliance, which represents commercial property owners in the city’s core.

Nichols said he is also planning to turn the gavel over to Commission Vice Chair Jill Hatton for the duration of the meeting that pertains to the downtown zoning plan. Ahead of the vote, a public hearing will be held.

The Downtown Boston Alliance submitted a letter in support of the plan — and its proposed creation of new skyline districts that would allow for 500-700 foot towers in parts of the historic downtown — to the Zoning Commission last Friday. It was sent by DBA Chief of Staff Kelsey Pramik.

“The plan’s passage today is critical for completing the neighborhood’s needed transformation such that it can align with a ‘new normal’ that requires a broader mix of uses, a modernized and more predictable zoning code, and a housing-first agenda to welcome a new generation of residents,” the DBA letter states.

The Alliance sent a similar letter of support to the Boston Planning and Development Agency Board last month, ahead of the board’s 4-1 vote in favor of the zoning plan.

If approved by the Zoning Commission, the Wu administration’s downtown plan would go into effect.

The plan would clear the way for new buildings to tower up to 700 feet over the historic downtown.

It has been a source of contention for other stakeholders, particularly the Downtown Boston Neighborhood Association, which has described the proposed changes as “destructive,” in that they would alter the character of the city’s core and turn it into Manhattan.

Critics have also flagged potential violations to the state’s shadow law, which was enacted in 1990 and restricts the creation of new shadows on the Boston Common and Public Garden at certain times of the day.

The Association supports additional towering in the Financial District east of Washington Street, where such heights have traditionally been allowed. It opposes new skyscrapers in the historic and increasingly residential Ladder Blocks and Park Plaza neighborhoods to the west of Washington Street and adjacent to the Boston Common.

The Celtics got some tips Monday at practice from an unlikely source in Tom Thibodeau, who helped eliminate them from the playoffs last season before he was fired as head coach of the New York Knicks.

Thibodeau led the Knicks to an appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals last season, but was fired after New York was swept in four games by the Indiana Pacers.

On Monday, he was at Celtics practice as a guest of head coach Joe Mazzulla.

“He’s obviously been one of the best coaches around for a long time. Worked here. Won a championship here. Just having him around makes me better, makes our organization better, so there’s a lot of respect for him,” Mazzulla said.

Thibodeau was an assistant coach in Boston for three seasons, starting with the team’s championship run in 2007-2008.

Last year, Thibodeau’s Knicks surprised many in basketball when they prevented the Celtics from earning a second straight title by eliminating Boston in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Celtics star Jaylen Brown told reporters that the time the team spent with Thibodeau at practice was valuable.

“We lost last year. It stung losing to the Knicks,” Brown said. “So to have Thibs here at our practice and explaining some of the things that he saw to help them beat us only helps me get better, only helps us get better. So I value that. Shoutout to Thibs for being here today.”

The Celtics open their season at home Wednesday against the Philadelphia 76ers. Boston then travels to take on Thibodeau’s former team at Madison Square Garden as the Celtics and Knicks play Friday night.