PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers closed out their preseason with a win. But more importantly, it gave Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey a chance to work together under new head coach Nick Nurse before the Sixers started playing real games.

The Sixers have been reliant on Embiid for every year of his career and are having Maxey do some more heavy lifting with James Harden's status uncertain. Maxey and Embiid both did some initiating on offense, with Maxey getting screens to get downhill and Embiid working from the elbows and corners. Even though Embiid shot horribly in his preseason debut, his presence helped unlock the best version of Maxey the playmaker.

Maxey's 12 assists are the most he has tallied in an NBA game. While it won’t count as his new career high since it was just the preseason, his ability to sharpen up as the game went along and make the necessary reads were pleasant sights for the Sixers. Embiid, in typical fashion, was extremely complimentary of his young teammate.

“Well, if he wants to lead the league in assists, he can, but that was great to see,” Embiid said. “I just wanted to get everybody going and just work on our two-man game, the timing of everything. I thought we did a pretty fine job. At the same time, [when] we didn't have anything, the ball wasn’t sticking. It was just moving. And there was some good play calls.”

Ever since Nurse took the job, he made it a goal of his to make Maxey more of a creator. But he can’t do it alone. Having Embiid will be super helpful, even if it takes some getting used to with a new offense.

“It was good,” Maxey said of playing with Embiid under Nurse's system for the first time in a live game. “I think he's really bought into what Nick Nurse is trying to bring as far as the ball movement, stuff like that. There was a couple times where he got the ball on the elbow and we kind of stood and watched but he made us keep playing and we got some shots out of that. So, I think it's gonna be great.”

The Sixers will look to get out and run in transition, too. Turning defense into offense has been a focal point under Nurse. Embiid's part there is to get the board and quickly look ahead or get the ball to a guard. He did a solid job with that in his first game under his new coach, too. The buy-in to his philosophies is already there. The proper execution of them is the next work in progress.