Immediate observations: The undermanned Sixers drop their season opener against the red-hot Bucks

Finally, the Sixers began their season on Wednesday night, hosting Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, Doc Rivers and the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks were without Khris Middleton, but the Sixers suffered much bigger losses in Joel Embiid and Paul George.

From the start, the Sixers' revamped roster was put to the test under the leadership of head coach Nick Nurse. A surprising win for the Sixers would have lifted spirits, but Lillard and Co. had other ideas. Milwaukee was on the money from beyond the arc all night, and the Sixers couldn't muster enough offense to keep up.

Here's what stood out from the Sixers' 124-109 loss, which left them 0-1 on the young season:

Nurse counts Eric Gordon and KJ Martin among his starting players

Midway through the preseason, Gordon became the clear favorite to start ahead of Caleb Martin – Nurse is excited about the floor spacing Gordon can provide this unit and believes Caleb Martin can provide a needed boost of energy to bench lineups. Nurse said before the game that Martin was “clearly” one of the team's top five players and that his minutes would reflect that.

With George sidelined, Nurse opted for KJ Martin, who impressed and looked much more comfortable throughout training camp and preseason. Martin is a remarkable athlete, which reflects Nurse's renewed emphasis on picking up the pace. The fifth-year winger serves as a premier defender in at least three positions and has developed into an impressive passer and decision-maker in short-roll situations. Whether or not KJ Martin can consistently hit open threes in the future will determine his long-term fate; He spent the summer working with a shooting coach, refining his hand placement in hopes of achieving better results.

There is early nervousness on both sides before the season opener

The first timeout of the game came about halfway through the first quarter with the score tied at 10. The teams shot a combined 7-24 from the field during that opening series, including Tyrese Maxey, who knocked down his first shot – a three-pointer – before missing his next five shot attempts.

Elsewhere, Andre Drummond was dominant early on the glass, grabbing six rebounds and converting one of his offensive boards into a basket. Caleb Martin came off the bench a little earlier than expected when Antetokounmpo got KJ Martin in foul trouble and immediately did exactly what Nurse had hoped the former Heat winger would do: smashed the glass. Antetokounmpo failed to box out and Caleb Martin turned it into a layup for Oubre. Caleb Martin's offensive rebounding stood out early, an extremely encouraging sign for Nurse.

With the Sixers' primary scoring opportunities, Maxey and Oubre struggled to put the ball in the basket early, but the Sixers' strong defense – including an Antetokounmpo transition turnover forced by Gordon – made up for it .

Some rotation questions answered

The first change of the season was the aforementioned Martins move, but the next reserve player to be checked in was Guerschon Yabusele. Yabusele replaced Oubre and allowed him to play a few minutes at power forward before Oubre returned to replace Drummond and Yabusele moved up to the five.

Yabusele's first NBA shot attempt in many years was a wide-open three-pointer in the corner that he drained.

As expected, Kyle Lowry also reported and replaced Gordon. Nurse will still make sure that Maxey and Lowry share the floor somewhat; He prefers to have as many ball handlers on the field at the same time as possible.

The only surprise was that Nurse opted for an eight-man rotation in the first half, opting not to use any of his deeper reserves – most notably freshman Jared McCain.

Maxey shows aggression early

Whenever Embiid and George are down – and that may not be rare – the Sixers need Maxey to be as aggressive as possible and score the ball. Nurse has spent his entire time in Philadelphia rooting for Maxey and telling the All-Star point guard that he can continue to improve his scoring output.

Maxey shot just 3-11 from the field in the first quarter, but that number of shot attempts alone is exactly what Nurse continues to strive for consistently.

To top it off, Maxey gave the Sixers a 23-22 lead at the buzzer in the first quarter after putting together a series of nasty plays.

Ultimately, the Sixers' early offense looked like that of a team with several new players and missing an MVP candidate and a nine-time All-Star. This is all still a work in progress.

Another note on Maxey: It was clear that his focus in the offseason was to regain the kind of comfort between the three-point line and the restricted area that he had when he first came into the league, and He had a number of shot attempts early in the midrange, including this floater:

Coming into the NBA, Maxey was far too reliant on his floater, but giving it up entirely wasn't exactly the ideal pivot. Perhaps it will return to his arsenal in his fifth professional season.

The Bucks go on a run to end the first half

The final minutes of the second quarter didn't exactly go well for the Sixers. At first their offense stagnated – as expected, this was most noticeable while Maxey was resting – then they finally put together some strong offensive players, but saw Milwaukee get hot from beyond the arc.

Perhaps a bigger problem was that the Sixers repeatedly committed fouls on defense. When halftime came, Drummond, KJ Martin and Oubre each had three fouls, while Yabusele — who sank a shot to beat the buzzer in the second quarter — had two.

The Sixers took a calculated risk by relying on athleticism and positional versatility over size and strength. That trade-off yields a lot of positive results, but it also leaves them vulnerable to the occasional faceoff ball or easy foul against a team like Milwaukee that has tremendous muscle across the board.

In addition to Antetokounmpo, who had 11 points, eight rebounds and four assists in just 15 minutes of the first half, Bobby Portis lit up the Sixers' second unit with 13 points, three rebounds and three assists in the first 24 minutes of the game.

MORE: NBA investigates Sixers over Joel Embiid

Looking for a spark, the nurse goes to Ricky Council IV, but Milwaukee's advance continues

Midway through the third quarter, the boos grew louder in South Philadelphia as the Bucks continued to rain triples. Milwaukee extended their lead to 18 and Nurse decided to change the pace of the game a bit by switching to Ricky Council IV. Council hasn't done enough in training camp and preseason to earn a regular rotation role, but the Sixers still see real potential in the second-year winger. For now, that role is probably his optimal one: not a player who can be relied on for late-night contributions, but who will be there when the energy needs to change.

There was a moment when the building had juice again – Yabsuele converted an and-one thanks to a great dish from Lowry, and the Sixers forced a Bucks turnover. But Maxey was blocked at the rim by Brook Lopez and Lillard drew a foul, then Yabusele was called for a moving screen and Lillard hit his fifth triple of the night. Suddenly, Milwaukee's lead was back up to 17.

What made it happen was that Council hit a three-pointer on his first shot attempt of the season, a free throw from the left wing. But before that came a flurry of Lillard threes that put the Sixers in a big hole.

Sixers struggle at the free throw line

The Sixers led the NBA in free throws made per game and were also second-best in free throw percentage during the 2023-24 season, but that is fueled by a legendary foul drawer in Embiid. On Wednesday evening they fought at the border. By the end of the third quarter, they had already missed eight free throws (15-23).

When you're as severely undermanned as the Sixers are without Embiid and George and you're facing a team that's red-hot from off the court, there's no room for error at the free throw line. While that's not exactly an indicator of a long-term problem, it's frustrating to deal with when so many things are already working against one team.

Strong evening for the Sixers bench

From an offensive perspective, the Sixers didn't have much to be excited about for much of this game, but they did see three reserve players give them decent points. Caleb Martin and Yabusele each scored in double figures but also played strong defense and did a little bit of everything else, while Lowry was a calming presence with his ball-handling, passing and three-point shooting.

All too often the Sixers have been unable to produce quality offense for more than a few possessions in a row, but their best success on the field came when Lowry was in the game.

A wild statistic about Lowry's longevity, courtesy of the Sixers:

Lowry will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in the future, and it's pretty cool that the Philadelphia native and Villanova native was able to finish his playing career with his hometown team.

Despite a valiant performance, the Sixers are too little too late

The Sixers were able to make a few short runs in the fourth quarter, but Maxey's subpar performance combined with Milwaukee's three-point excellence and the Sixers' lack of offensive firepower beyond their All-Star point guard was enough for many People reached the exits about four minutes before the end of the game.

The undermanned Sixers had a lot to like, but there was still a lot more to worry about.

Next: The Sixers travel to Toronto to face the rebuilding Raptors on Friday night.

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