By Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor 
On Tuesday night, the Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Boston Celtics 92-89 after falling behind early by as many as 14. After two years of waiting, we got to see the debuts of Joel Embiid and Dario Saric and they both showed very encouraging signs in their first NBA games. In addition to those two, Sergio Rodriguez made his return to the NBA and free agent signing Brandon Paul sparked the team off the bench in the fourth.
Here are five takeaways from Tuesday night's win over the Celtics:
Joel Embiid's rust overshadowed by progression, potential – There's no doubting that Joel Embiid's debut was rusty, but for a guy that hadn't played in an organized basketball game in 948 days? I'll take six points, four rebounds and two blocks against the Celtics first team. His first shot was a nice fadeaway jumper from about 10 feet over Tyler Zeller and he even made a jumper from just inside the three-point line to end the first quarter. He got more comfortable as the game moved along . The 7-foot-2 center has plenty to work on before the teams' next game, most importantly learning how to work out of double teams. By the middle of his second stint on the floor, the Celtics double-teamed him, resulting in a few turnovers. In addition, Embiid and head coach Brett Brown mentioned that they'd like to get more of the post-up game working on Thursday when the Sixers host the Wizards at the Wells Fargo Center.
Dario Saric looked like he belonged in his NBA debut - While Embiid was making his first start since March 1, 2014, Dario Saric was making his transition from two years in Turkey to the NBA and he looked good. The 22-year-old native of Croatia finished with 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting to go along with six rebounds and two assists. He isn't 100 percent up to NBA pace quite yet, which is expected, but Dario still looked solid on the defensive end and even showed that he can run, slamming for two on a fast break in the first half. It's just one game, but it looks as if Saric will be a nice piece for this team moving forward.
Brandon Paul's fourth quarter run - The Sixers have a few undrafted guys that are looking to stay on the roster and one of them is Brandon Paul. He went undrafted in 2013 and played in Russia, Spain and in the D-League before signing a partially-guaranteed deal with the Sixers this year. In 12 minutes and 53 seconds, Paul scored a game-high 15 points, shooting 6-for-10 from the field and 2-for-4 from beyond the arc. He also contributed four rebounds and two steals in the winning effort.
Supporting cast showed something - After falling behind 23-9, it was the Sixers reserves that helped chip away at the Celtics lead. T.J. McConnell had 13 points, while Jerami Grant and Richaun Holmes each finished with 10 points. It took a while for the starters to get going against the Celtics first unit, so it was good to see some encouraging signs from the bench players as well. Sergio Rodriguez only had five points, but had six assists, two big ones down the stretch to help preserve the lead in the fourth.
This was the first time the team really played together - Out of the gates, the Sixers looked a little excitable and jittery on the floor, leading to them falling behind big time in the first quarter. Although the starting lineup didn't really show us much, we have to keep in mind that Tuesday was the first time that this team has really played together against an opponent that wasn't themselves. Robert Covington looked rusty, despite a team-leading seven rebounds, and we still haven't gotten to see Jerryd Bayless or Jahlil Okafor yet, so there's plenty of things that need to sort themselves out before the regular season opens at the end of the month.
Up next for the Sixers is the Washington Wizards on Thursday night. Tip-off is at 7:00 p.m. from the Wells Fargo Center.
