8-1: It's Okay to Say It's Great

Jaylen Brown blocked Cade Cunningham's three-pointer with about 37 seconds left, the Sixers beat the Pistons 112-106 in Detroit, and they're 8-1.

Say it out loud. 8-1. That's the best record in the NBA this morning, at .889, ahead of Portland's 6-1 (ESPN standings). It's the Sixers' first 4-0 start on the road since 2000-01, the season that ended in their last Finals appearance (ESPN).

Wednesday had a little of everything. Brown scored a season-high 30, 23 of them in the first half on 8-of-14 shooting (Inquirer). Joel Embiid had 26 points and 15 rebounds, and a technical foul to go with them. LeBron James had 13 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists, and he made the 16,000th field goal of his career, the first player to get there. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is next with 15,837 (AP).

Tyrese Maxey had a rough one. His 19 points, on 5-of-16, were a season low. He had scored at least 26 in every other game, and his 29-point average, the AP's figure entering Wednesday, trailed only Luka Doncic and Stephen Curry. After the 19-point night it is 28.0 (252 points in 9 games, our math). The Sixers won anyway. That's what a deep team does. It's also a thing to be a little happy about, because the best scorer had a bad night and nobody panicked.

So, is this the best Sixers team since 2001? Nine games can't answer that. You can still say it's great. It's a fair thing to be loud about in November. The only team to beat them is Detroit, at home, and they just beat Detroit on its floor.

Yeah but, early Finals talk

Here's the first problem with the Finals talk, and it comes from the best-qualified source in the building.

"It's too early to be talking about the Finals and things of that nature on Nov. 4," LeBron said afterward. "We know we got a long way to go." Coach Nick Nurse said the same thing in different words: "I wouldn't read any super long-term stuff into anything, cause it's early."

Here's why people are talking about the Finals anyway. ESPN notes, and our Basketball-Reference check confirms, that the Sixers have started 4-0 or better on the road five times in the last 50 seasons, and they made the NBA Finals in each of the previous four. ESPN also notes that LeBron's earlier teams that started 7-1 or better all reached the Finals. By our check of every LeBron season on Basketball-Reference, that is four teams: the 2011-12 Heat, the 2015-16 and 2016-17 Cavaliers, and the 2019-20 Lakers. Three of those teams won the title, and one lost.

That's a fun fact. It's not a forecast. Those were different teams with different rosters, and the Sixers have played nine games. That's not a pattern yet.

Yeah but, the holes

The other Yeah But is how they've been getting wins. Celebrate the comebacks. Then look at the deficits.

Sources: ESPN and AP recaps and line scores. That's four of nine games with a quarter that ended with the Sixers down 10 or more. We checked every line score (Basketball-Reference), and the other five games never had one.

The Cleveland game is the headline one. Down 29, the Sixers outscored the Cavaliers 69-37 in the second half and took their first lead with just under seven minutes left (AP). It was the biggest comeback of LeBron's career, and the biggest in Sixers history in the play-by-play era (NBA.com). They did it again, in smaller form, in Indiana, where the Pacers outscored them 36-13 in the third quarter and the Sixers answered with a 39-21 fourth.

Wednesday was the reverse. They led 56-42 at the half and by 16 after three quarters, and Detroit cut it to six (NBA.com and Basketball-Reference line scores).

A team that can climb out of 29 is worth watching. A team that keeps falling into holes will eventually meet one it can't climb out of. Both are true, and the record can't tell you which one shows up Friday.

Yeah but, the margins

Five of the eight wins came by six points or fewer. The Sixers' point differential is plus 52, or plus 5.78 a game. By our recompute (margin of victory, Basketball-Reference, Nov. 5 morning), that ranks ninth in the NBA, behind Minnesota at plus 11.2, Portland at plus 11.1, Memphis, Houston, Detroit, San Antonio, the Lakers and Boston at plus 6.0.

That isn't a knock. Plus 5.8 is very good, and close wins are real wins. It just says the record is a little ahead of the scoreboard. The record is the standings. The margin is the better guide to what comes next.

The question, and the answer

How loud are you allowed to be in November?

Pretty loud. 8-1 with the best record in the NBA, LeBron, Brown, Embiid and Maxey on the floor, and a 4-0 record in road games is a great start. Sit down with it. Tell people.

Then watch Friday. The Sixers are at Cleveland at 7:30 PM ET, and the Cavaliers are 4-4 and have lost two straight (ESPN). They're also the team the Sixers were down 29 to on Oct. 22. Maxey hurt his right pinkie near the end Wednesday. Asked about the swollen finger, he said, "I'll be fine," and that it has looked that way "since last year" (ESPN). Bona left in the fourth quarter. Nurse called it "a neck issue" and said Bona "looks to be OK, but nothing for sure on that" (Inquirer, ESPN). No diagnosis had been announced.

The right level is "this is great, and show me." They've earned the shout. What they haven't earned yet is the trophy talk. LeBron said so himself.

Tommy Vale writes about Philadelphia sports for Negadelphia.