It wasn’t pretty, and maybe that’s a good thing.

When the Philadelphia 76ers brought their four stars together, while there were obvious questions about how it would work offensively, there was more concern about how good they would be on defense. But it was on that end of the floor where the Sixers shined on Tuesday, especially down the stretch as they completed a second-half comeback and defeated the champion New York Knicks 106-100 on opening night at Madison Square Garden.

The Sixers did get offensive contributions from all four of their stars, who each had at least five assists. Tyrese Maxey led all scorers with 28 points, while Jaylen Brown, LeBron James and Joel Embiid added 19, 14 and 13, respectively. Anfernee Simons and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope hit some critical 3s off the bench.

Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 21 points, but he shot just 6-for-19 and the Knicks scored less than a point per possession (100 on 102), something they did just six times all of last season (101 total games).

Here are some notes, numbers and film from James’ 35th career game (and 25th win) at the Garden …

1. Sixers get timely stops

After erasing a double-digit deficit, the Sixers led by as many as nine points early in the fourth quarter. Then the Knicks made it a one-point game with a long, Karl-Anthony Towns 3-pointer with 4:37 remaining. It was their ability to erase fourth-quarter deficits and out-execute their opponent down the stretch that got the Knicks that banner they raised a few hours earlier.

But on this night, after that Towns 3, the Knicks scored just twice on their final eight possessions. And those six stops featured some terrific defense from the Sixers.

The Knicks had been trying all night (as they did for most of their sweep of the Sixers in the conference semifinals) to get Embiid defending ball-screens for Brunson. But the Sixers did their best to avoid that matchup.

After Towns’ 3, the Sixers missed three shots on the other end of the floor, giving the Knicks a chance to take the lead with a little less than four minutes left. And to avoid getting Embiid in the pick-and-roll, Brown switched onto Towns before he set a screen for Brunson. Brown then switched onto Brunson and shut down his isolation, forcing a tough shot.

A few possessions later, the Knicks did get Embiid involved in the action. But he blitzed the screen for Brunson, forcing him to give up the ball. Towns was seemingly open on the pop, but James quickly rotated over and took that pass away. That allowed the Sixers to erase the advantage, and Maxey eventually intercepted an OG Anunoby pass, taking it for a dunk and putting Philly up six …

For the game, the Knicks had 14 chances where they set at least one ball-screen for Brunson with the guy Embiid was defending, and they scored just five points on those 14 chances. That’s a rate of just 0.36 points per chance, compared to their rate of 1.24 points per chance in their playoff series five months ago.

After the Maxey dunk and a New York timeout, the Sixers had one of those “flying around” defensive possessions, helping and rotating. The Knicks moved the ball well and Mikal Bridges seemingly had an open lane to the basket, but James was able to slide over from the weak side and get a piece of Bridges’ layup …

The Sixers probably can’t defend like that for 48 minutes, but they shouldn’t need to.

2. Embiid plays big on one end of the floor

Embiid’s 13 points came on 4-for-15 shooting, one of the 11 worst shooting nights (minimum 15 attempts) of his career. Only four of those 15 shots came in the paint, and he got to the free-throw line for just four attempts.

Simply, he didn’t play very big on offense. He was a little too willing to shoot jumpers and, even when he had a path to the basket, he didn’t get all the way there …

But Embiid did play big on the other end of the floor. He had two steals and three blocks, including an impressive recovery to block Andre Drummond after stopping a Brunson pick-and-roll drive.

His mobility is an issue, but Embiid remains a big dude and a difference-maker on defense. With him on the floor on Tuesday, the Knicks scored 61 points on 72 possessions (85 per 100). When he was off the floor, they scored 39 on 31 (126 per 100).

Opponents will continue trying to make him defend in space, and the Sixers will continue trying to keep him near the basket … on defense at least.

3. Multi-star action

The Sixers are finding ways to get more than two of their stars involved in the same action. In fact, the very first play of the game was a “Spain” variant where …

• Brown set an off-ball screen for James.
• Embiid set a ball screen for James.
• Maxey simultaneously screened Embiid’s defender.

The Knicks weren’t able to execute a smooth, three-way switch with the double-screen and Maxey popped out for an open 3-pointer …

After a timeout early in the fourth quarter, they ran the same play with Adem Bona in Embiid’s place. The Knicks defended it a little better, but Maxey was still able to attack Jose Alvarado’s close-out, get into the paint, and draw a foul.

Great players make great screeners, because their defenders don’t want to leave them. And if multiple great players are setting screens on the same play, advantages will be created.

4. James mans the five

The Sixers lost one of their backup centers less than five minutes into the preseason when Ariel Hukporti tore his Achilles. They did get Bona (who missed the entire preseason) back on Tuesday, but we still got a few minutes of James playing the five.

Most of that came at the end of the second quarter, when the Sixers scored eight points on five offensive possessions. Two of those eight came when James rolled into the paint (after Maxey rejected a screen), drew a crowd, and found Brown under the basket for a dunk …

The Sixers might have some defensive and rebounding issues when James plays the five, but they could be pretty potent offensively in those minutes. And with Embiid likely to miss a lot of games, there could be a lot of those minutes this season.

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