There was some good, some bad and a lot of ugly during the Sixers' season opener on Wednesday night, a 112-95 loss to the Celtics in Boston.
Now the team gets ready to hit the home court for the first time in 2015-16 against the Utah Jazz. Let's take a closer look at the matchup:
1. Jah rules
So much for first-game jitters.
Jahlil Okafor was a force during his NBA debut against the Celtics. The rookie scored 26 points on 10 of 16 shooting. He also added seven rebounds, two blocks, one assist and one steal in 38 minutes.
More importantly, Okafor meshed well with fellow big man Nerlens Noel and commanded double-teams in his first career game to show head coach Brett Brown some things even he didn't expect from the Duke product.
“He has capabilities beyond what I thought,” Brown said after the loss. “He is a low-post, force-type player and he can shoot a 16-footer, he can put it on the floor and make moves facing up. I think he's comfortable passing and we have to make sure we have better spacing. He can score. He has an instinct for scoring in more versatile ways than I originally expected.”
The Sixers will certainly be looking for Okafor to cut down on his turnovers — he had eight in Boston — but they had to be encouraged from what they saw in Game No. 1.
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2. Give it away
Speaking of turnovers, they still appear to be an issue for the Sixers. The team turned it over 22 times in Wednesday's season-opening loss, which led to 34 points for the Celtics.
With point guards Tony Wroten and Kendall Marshall on the shelf still recovering from torn ACLs, the Sixers' ball handlers struggled mightily to maintain possession. Isaiah Canaan, T.J. McConnell, Hollis Thompson and JaKarr Sampson combined for 11 of the team's turnovers.
It's nothing new for the Sixers. They finished dead last in turnovers the previous two seasons.
They'll need to take much better care of the ball if they hope to top the Jazz for their first win of the season.
3. Battle of the bigs
Okafor wasn't the only Sixer to have a strong game in the opener. Noel was all over the floor. He recorded a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Plus, he added three steals, two blocks and two assists.
However, another performance like that from the duo could prove difficult against an up-and-coming frontcourt combo in its own right.
Like the Sixers, the Jazz are also centering their rebuild around a pair of bigs. Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert man the paint for Utah. Favors is coming off a very similar effort to Okafor in the Jazz's loss to the Detroit Pistons to open their season. He had 26 points on 10 of 15 shooting, with six rebounds, one steal, one assist and one block. Gobert managed only six points, but he pulled down 12 rebounds and blocked three shots.
Whichever team is able to gain control of the low post should have the inside track to a victory.
4. Injuries
Dante Exum (knee) is out for the Jazz. Trevor Booker will return to the lineup after serving a one-game suspension.
Nik Stauskas, who missed the season opener with back spasms, is probable Friday night, according to Brown.
Wroten (knee), Marshall (knee), Robert Covington (knee), Carl Landry (wrist) and Joel Embiid (foot) are all out.
5. This and that
• The Sixers haven't beaten the Jazz since November 2012.
• The Jazz have started 0-2 in four of the last five seasons.
• The Jazz held the Sixers to 77.0 points per game in last season's two meetings.
• Utah head coach Quin Snyder served as a player development coach with the Sixers during the 2010-11 season.