The 2026-27 Sixers have avenged their only loss of the season.

Last month, they faced the Detroit Pistons at home under hellish circumstances. They were down two starters, and facing the Eastern Conference's best and most physical defense while playing their third game in four nights. But on Wednesday night, they kicked off a three-game road trip in Detroit with their full collection of stars available and Pistons star center Jalen Duren sidelined. The Sixers became the aggressors on both ends of the floor.

Tyrese Maxey's first shaky performance of the season came on his 26th birthday, but his gift was a trio of strong performances from supporting cast members. Jaylen Brown and LeBron James set a tremendous tone, and Joel Embiid imposed his will inside to lead the Sixers to a win, paying the Pistons back with a loss and anointing themselves as the only one-loss team in the Eastern Conference. They nearly coughed up an 18-point fourth-quarter lead, but Brown punctuated the win with a tremendous block of Pistons superstar Cade Cunningham, halting Detroit's last gasp.

Takeaways from the Sixers' 112-106 victory:

Jaylen Brown meets the moment on both ends of the floor

Last time the Sixers played the Pistons, Brown came up short. With Joel Embiid and VJ Edgecombe sidelined, the Sixers needed Brown to meet the moment against the Eastern Conference's best defense. He shot 5-for-20 and had trouble playing in crowds. The Pistons' signature physicality overwhelmed a player whose physicality has been a godsend for the Sixers.

Brown has scored in moderation so far in his Sixers tenure, and entered this rematch against Detroit coming off of his strongest performance of the season. Brown totaled 26 points, 11 rebounds and five assists on 9-for-15 shooting in Monday's win over the Chicago Bulls.

"He's great, man," Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said on Monday. "...The dude is tough and he wins, and I'll take that all day long.... Some of the [shots] he hit [were] also really amazing, and how he pounded the glass and got some key rebounds. Makes a lot of winning plays, man. He's a winner."

That was Brown's best scoring performance with the Sixers – soon to be topped – but everybody knows he can put the ball in the basket. The 11 rebounds were most emblematic of the value he has provided this team; Brown entered Wednesday's game tied for a career-high 6.9 rebounds per game, and many of those boards have been contested.

"Just a mindset," Brown said on Monday. "Just trying to create extra opportunities for my team, and just – I know that rebounding [is important] as we are trying to patch together our fives and our front line. Trying to make an extra contribution, emphasis on the glass."

The Sixers were certainly in need of Brown's best in terms of athletic prowess and physicality on Wednesday; even without Duren, the Pistons are a hellish opponent any day of the week. He met the moment in every respect, and his scoring did a lot of the talking.

Brown scored the Sixers' first basket of the game cutting off an Embiid post-up, and those are the plays the Sixers are keen on seeing more of as they try to get the five-time All-Star more comfortable with his new cast of teammates. The play below is also an example of the team's continued emphasis on having LeBron James screen or be screened for as much as possible to force mismatches:

Brown helped the Sixers shake off a somewhat sluggish start. They were outscored 17-11 in the first six minutes of the game, but closed the opening frame on an 18-4 run. Brown followed up his cutting basket with a two-handed transition dunk, then converted an and-one layup before adding yet another buzzer-beater to the Sixers' collection:

Brown picked up right where he left off in the second quarter, curling around a screen for a mid-range jumper to kick the period off. Two threes and some more spirited drives later, Brown was heading into intermission with 23 points on 12 shot attempts while also playing a critical role in slowing down Cunningham. His second half was strong, too, with his continued bottling up of Cunningham providing more value than his offense – particularly with the play that sealed the deal:

One of the more quietly important subplots of this Sixers season is how Brown fares on catch-and-shoot threes; he has never been all that reliable there despite being an elite mid-range shot-maker. The sample remains very small, but Brown entered Wednesday shooting 41.9 percent from long range on the season and then shot 3-for-5 from beyond the arc in the first half alone. If he continues to impress from three-point territory and forces defenders to guard him tightly out there, this offense will be even more dangerous.

Why Adem Bona remains the backup center

If Adem Bona does not eventually cement himself as the Sixers' backup center, it will not be because Nurse did not give him enough chances. Bona has had one or two okay showings this season and has otherwise been disastrous, with a slew of unforced errors. He is clearly in his own head right now; even as a rookie, his mistakes were never so frequent.

Last week, Nurse was asked what he feels the optimal output from Bona is on this team.

"Our success with him – and there's been, and quite a bit of it – is he's a backup behind Joel. He's playing the 12 to 15 to 18 minutes that it takes in that backup role," Nurse said. "It allows us to change up some defensive scenarios, which ends up being good for us. We can go to a little more of our blitz package and try to create turnovers. We can go to a little bit more of a switching package, which will enable us to just keep the ball in front a little bit. It enables us to pressure up on the wings a little bit more and let him try to race up behind it."

Given that the primary competitor Bona is still fending off is the much less mobile Jabari Walker, it is worth putting quite a bit of stock into Nurse's perception of the value that comes with Bona's movement skills.

Bona's mobility was evident right away; his first defensive rep was a switch onto Cunningham. He bottled up a drive and forced a contested mid-range jumper, then rebounded the miss. Moments later, he hung onto a laser of a pass from James and converted an and-one. Seconds later, James masterfully found Bona for a dunk, wide open under the basket:

Coming out of a timeout, he altered a shot at the rim in a two-on-one situation and did so without committing a foul. His opening stint in this game was his best of the season by a country mile. He made both of his shot attempts and registered a steal in just under nine minutes of game action – which, because of many lengthy stoppages, amounted to over 30 minutes of real-time rest for Embiid – and did not commit a single foul or turnover.

For Bona's entire career, the Sixers have been trying to simplify his role. If all he needs to do is protect the rim, occasionally switch, set screens and roll to the rim with conviction, he will be a usable center – assuming the miscues at least become slightly less frequent. Never have the Sixers had nearly as much offensive firepower as they do now to actually ensure that Bona can focus on just those few things and be passable while doing so. 

Odds and ends

Two additional notes:

• James, whose passing stole the show for a lot of the night, became the first player in NBA history to reach 16,000 field goals with his second bucket of the game.

• For the first time this season, all three Sixers two-way players – Rayan Rupert, Caleb Love and Tacko Fall – were all inactive on Wednesday.

Up next: The Sixers' three-game road trip will continue in Cleveland on Friday night when the Cavaliers look to avenge the Sixers' 29-point comeback in the second game of the season.