The Sixers came back from 29 down, and what it told us about Maxey, Embiid and LeBron

Philadelphia beat Cleveland 114-106 on Thursday after trailing by 29 points, the largest comeback in franchise history and only the tenth time in the play-by-play era that a team has won from that far behind, according to ESPN's recap. Tyrese Maxey scored 32 points with six assists and led a 15-0 run in the fourth quarter that gave the Sixers the lead, Joel Embiid added 24 points and seven rebounds, and Jaylen Brown had 21. For Cleveland, in its first game, Donovan Mitchell scored 32 with ten rebounds.

For fantasy managers the comeback matters less than the minutes it took. Maxey played 42 of them two nights after playing 40 in New York, Embiid played 34 two nights after 33, and LeBron James played 33, all according to the box scores our projections read from ESPN. Below is what two games have done to each of their lines, and what the Cavaliers' side of the box score says about James Harden.

Maxey's minutes are the story

Maxey has played 82 minutes in two games, and our projection of his minutes has moved to 38.4 a night, with 26.3 points, 5.7 assists and 1.8 steals. That makes him 47.6 fantasy points a game under ESPN's standard points scoring, 9th on our points board against the analysts' consensus 13th, and 5th on our 9-cat board, where his 88% from the line and his low turnovers count for more. Workloads this heavy are the reason he is worth a first-round pick on both boards, and they are also the risk, because a coach who plays a guard 42 minutes in October is spending something he may want in March.

Embiid has played both games

Embiid scored 13 on 4-for-15 shooting in New York on Tuesday and 24 on 8-for-16 on Thursday, and the part that matters most for fantasy is that he played both, at 33 and 34 minutes. Our projection still prices him for 51 games, up from 50 before Thursday, which is why he ranks only 64th on points despite a per-game line of 24.0 points and 8.0 rebounds. Every game he plays nudges that number up, and if he is still playing at the end of November he will be one of the best values on our board.

LeBron and the Sixers' crowded ball

LeBron James had 17 points, ten rebounds, five assists and three steals but also five turnovers on 5-for-14 shooting. On a team where Maxey and Brown took the most shots on Thursday, our projection of 19.3 points and 7.9 assists has barely moved over two games, and he stays 26th on points and 46th in 9-cat, where the turnovers cost him.

Cleveland's first game

Mitchell's 32 points and ten rebounds moved his projection from 43.3 to 44.1 fantasy points a game, lifting him from 15th to 11th on our points board. Harden went the other way: 16 points on 5-for-12 shooting with six turnovers took him from 33rd to 41st on points, and our projection now has him at 3.4 turnovers a game. One night is a small sample, but Harden's turnovers are the part of his line most likely to stay high on a team where he shares the ball with Mitchell, and in 9-cat they are already priced at 37th.

What to do

Start Maxey every night and treat him as a first-round player. Hold Embiid and count every game he plays as value your league did not pay for. In 9-cat, if a league-mate values Harden on his name, his turnovers make him a player to sell rather than buy.

Every player in this story is on the fantasy basketball rankings and the 2026-27 projections, and the NBA depth charts show where each one stands in his team’s rotation tonight.