The Bucks produced at least 12 more rebounds, paint points, and fast-break points than Philadelphia on Saturday night. Given that data, one would confidently assume Milwaukee comfortably won; they’d be wrong.

Philadelphia (3-0) escaped with a 127-116 win over the Bucks (0-3) at Xfinity Mobile Arena in their first game without LeBron James. The 76ers leaned on their star power and shot-making to keep the Bucks at arm’s length. While Philadelphia succeeded, Milwaukee still exploited the nagging 76ers’ front-court issues.

Here’s one clear positive and negative from Philadelphia in this one:

Positive: shot-making

The 76ers won their first two games despite shooting below 30% from three-point range. That wasn’t the case on Saturday night. Philadelphia shot 43.2% from the perimeter, and if the 76ers didn’t, the result might’ve been different. They led Milwaukee by just three with less than two minutes left in the game before Jaylen Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope hit consecutive threes, putting the nail in the coffin.

But Philadelphia’s lights-out shooting started in the first quarter. The 76ers ran their offense through Joel Embiid, whose gravity created many open looks. VJ Edgecombe benefited the most, as Embiid assisted on 12 of his 17 points. Many of Philadelphia’s possessions could end in a kick-out to an open shooter, so it’s imperative that Edgecombe (five triples) and others take advantage—they did that on Saturday night.

Dean Wade, in his Philadelphia debut, shot 2-for-3 from deep, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope converted four trifectas.

The 76ers’ shot-making mattered in other ways, too. 

As Philadelphia builds chemistry, there’s going to be games where it won’t pull away from inferior teams when, on paper, it should. Saturday night was one of those occasions. Milwaukee led by as many as seven points in the second quarter as the 76ers struggled to find offense in non-Embiid minutes. This was a stretch where James’ absence (lower back management) reared its head.

The solution? Buckets. Philadelphia—again in the third quarter—restored order through its stars. Embiid, Brown, and Tyrese Maxey accounted for 27 of the 76ers’ 33 third-quarter points. Each player can contort the defense in different ways, and that bought Philadelphia time to reestablish rhythm. The 76ers grew their lead to 16 in the last period. Yet no star had to do too much, which speaks to Philadelphia’s offensive balance.

Negative: frontcourt depth

I highlighted the 76ers’ front-court struggles in their first two outings and wanted to pick a different weak point. But Saturday’s non-Embiid minutes left me little choice, and it all leads back to Adem Bona. He finished at -4 in +/-, went scoreless, and committed two fouls.

Opposing bigs have gotten the better of Bona in the paint and off the glass. Bona’s lack of foul discipline hasn’t improved in this three-game sample, and his switchability and athleticism aren’t overcompensating. Teams are outscoring Philadelphia by 24 points per 100 possessions with Bona on the court, according to NBA.com.

Nick Nurse adjusted after Bona’s first stint on Saturday, mixing and matching Wade and Jabari Walker at the five. Philadelphia finally found something with Walker (six points, three rebounds, and one steal), but he sustained a right knee injury in the third quarter and didn’t return; there has yet to be any further update.

The 76ers’ center rotation could be severely understaffed on the second leg of a back-to-back against the Pistons on Sunday night. All signs point to Embiid resting, as James did against the Bucks.

If so, the 76ers may have only Bona, Wade, and James as center options, assuming Embiid, Walker, Dominick Barlow (back), and Tacko Fall (hip) are out in a hypothetical worst-case scenario.

Even without Jalen Duren (hamstring), that’d be a challenging task for the 76ers.