PHILADELPHIA -- As the Philadelphia 76ers begin a season with a star-laden roster, center Joel Embiid rejects the narrative that anyone needs to sacrifice for this team to succeed.

"I'm against the concept of sacrificing," he said after Friday's preseason finale. "I think the way I explained it was you do what you do best, and we're going to support you. ... I don't think anybody has to take a backseat."

Albeit without second-year starting guard V.J. Edgecombe, who was held out of Friday's 125-120 loss to the Boston Celtics for precautionary reasons, Sixers coach Nick Nurse gave the closest look at what this Sixers team may look like this season.

The other active Sixers starters -- LeBron James, Tyrese Maxey, Jaylen Brown and Embiid -- all played preseason highs in minutes and well into the second half of the game. Embiid, who struggled in his last appearance two games ago against the Brooklyn Nets, where he finished with just six points and eight turnovers, was dominant.

He scored 27 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and added five assists. In the third quarter, he had one of the game's best highlights when he threw down an emphatic dunk that drew roars from fans at the Xfinity Mobile arena. "It's good to dunk. I thought I would never dunk again," Embiid said with a smile. "I guess I don't know what happened. I kind of got possessed."

Still, the group never looked comfortable together on the floor Friday night, despite playing against Celtics reserves. After the game, players didn't shy away from their somewhat disjointed performance. Forward Jaylen Brown pointed to the team's spacing Friday night, which he said led to turnovers as one of the many things they will need to fix moving forward.

"We're not where we want to be yet," he said. "So that's just a part of it. It's a part of coming together, a new group with a bunch of guys, different style, but we just got to keep getting better every day."

James echoed Brown's comments, but neither seemed concerned about the Sixers' ability to eventually gel.

"We're getting there," James said. "I mean, obviously we are a couple of weeks in, so we're still working on our rhythm, working on our kinks, and it's not going to be perfect."

The Sixers will open the regular season against the New York Knicks on Tuesday.