There was no Jayson Tatum.

There was no Kristaps Porzingis.

There was no Jrue Holiday.

There was no Al Horford.

Hell, there wasn’t even Luke Kornet.

Whether they wanted to or not, the 2025-26 Boston Celtics hit the floor on Wednesday night with a whole new look. A mix of bad luck (Tatum’s injury), second apron maintenance (Porzingis/Holiday) and individual professional pursuits (Horford/Kornet) led to major changes to the top of Boston’s roster, giving opportunities and minutes to the Celtics’ depth players in a way they haven’t experienced yet in their careers. Add in a few new faces, and there’s a reason why the Celtics have the longest title odds they’ve had in ages (+6000) heading into this season.

Early returns?

…eh!

The Celtics allowed 42 points in the fourth quarter, and lost to the 76ers 117-116 on Wednesday night at TD Garden, starting the regular season 0-1 as they embark on an unpredictable journey while continuing to figure out what works and what doesn’t with this new-look roster.

Here’s your first “5 Takeaways” column of the season:

1. Mazzulla Opts For Small-ish Starting 5

It wasn’t one of the two lineups I suggested here last week, but it was pretty close.

Mazzulla opted for Payton Pritchard and Derrick White in his backcourt (duh), with Jaylen Brown (duh) and Sam Hauser as his wings and Neemias Queta in the middle.

To do what head coach Joe Mazzulla wants to do this season, which is shoot even more threes than his teams did previously, this lineup makes sense. Pritchard, White, Brown and Hauser are all capable of getting incredibly hot at any given time, and each of them has the long-range ability Mazzulla basically requires for playing time.

Queta is definitely in the mold of a traditional center, with the bulk of his value stemming from his ability defensively. With Hauser as the other “big,” you need to have Queta in your frontcourt. No disrespect to Hauser, he just doesn’t have the bulk you’re looking for when facing teams with a more traditional 4-5 underneath.

With that said, I’d still like Mazzulla to have Chris Boucher in the starting five more often than not. I think he gives them a ton of flexibility on both ends of the floor, with that lanky 6-foot-9 frame giving him an ability to, essentially, switch on every position.

It may have worked for most of the night (more on that in a bit), but I wonder if this smaller lineup is sustainable against most teams moving forward.

2. Celtics’ Newcomers With Mixed-Bag Performance

Even though none of them cracked the starting five, we got a healthy dose of the newcomers on Wednesday as Mazzulla continues to figure out a new cadence for his new-look rotation.

I liked what I saw from Anfernee Simons. There’s a willingness to be a creator that I think this second unit desperately needs now that the likes of Pritchard and Hauser are a part of the starting five, and we saw some of that willingness translate into points off the bench on Wednesday. Simons finished the night with 13 points on 5 of 10 shooting, with 4 rebounds and a steal. He was 2 of 6 from beyond the arc - an area Boston is going to need him to shoot as close to 40% as possible in this season if they want to be in the mix towards the top of the east.

When 76ers All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey began to basically single handedly bring Philly back in fourth quarter with a string of threes, a big bucket from Simons as he drove to the basket for a tough contested layup led to a timeout from 76ers head coach Nick Nurse, putting an end to his team’s momentum (in that moment) as they trailed 94-84 with just over 9:00 to play. For the moment, Simons’ helped stem that tide.

I thought you saw flashes from both Josh Minot and Boucher on both ends of the floor that showed you that both guys will be big pieces of who this team is this season. Given his tenure in the league and the type of player he was for Toronto for so many years, Boucher’s impact this season should not come as a surprise. It was muted on Wednesday, only accounting for 6 points on 2 of 4 shooting with 4 rebounds, an assist and a steal in 16 minutes of action. Minot’s boxscore looked even lighter with just 2 points, but that basket came on a putback dunk that gave us a window into the type of athlete this guy is. We saw it in the preseason, and hopefully we get more of that when the games count.

Even before his injury, I thought backup center Luka Garza had a bad game. He accounted for 2 turnovers in only 6 minutes of action. They’ll need more from him moving forward.

3. VJ Edgecombe Will Be (is?) Special

There’s a reason why this kid was the No. 3 overall pick during last spring’s NBA Draft.

On Wednesday night, the 6-foot-5 wing from Baylor was by far and away the best player on the floor for Philadelphia, and you could make a case that he was the best player on the floor, period.

34 points for the rookie in his first regular season game as a pro on 13 of 26 shooting, going 5 for 13 from three and showing an already elite ability to use his athleticism to get to the rim. In addition to the scoring, Edgecombe grabbed 7 boards and dished out 3 assists.

As someone who wants to see the Celtics succeed, I’m not looking forward to this 20-year-old being a pain in Boston’s side for years to come.

4. Joel Embiid Looked Cooked

Is Embiid’s three-year extension for $193 million with the 76ers one of the worst contracts in NBA history?

Last season, he only managed to play 19 games as he dealt with lingering issues in his left knee. Those issues inevitably led to the former MVP’s season ending in February, and receiving surgery on the knee in April.

His status for opening night was up in the air until Wednesday morning, and he looked like a player that didn’t think he was going to play until minutes before tip.

He looked slow, lumbering up and down the floor more than usual. He was an ineffective defender who looked awful offensively - scoring only 4 points on 1 of 9 shooting in 20 minutes of action.

He’s clearly not all the way back given the lack of minutes. I get it. But if I’m a 76ers fan, I’m terrified of what lies ahead for my overpriced, overweight 7-footer at age 31.

5. Celtics Stars Sans Tatum Were…

…eh!

I came away from the night most impressed with White, who led all Celtics with 25 points in his debut as Boston’s new (temporary) second banana.

During a different stretch of Maxey’s incredible run with under 7:00 to play, White had a huge sequence of a deep three followed by a lob to Queta that helped give Boston a 101-94 lead with under 6:00 to play. White looked great on both ends throughout the night - something the Celtics are going to need a whole lot of this season with Tatum out of the picture for the foreseeable future.

I was also impressed with Queta’s offensive game, accounting for 17 points on 7 of 8 shooting to go along with 8 boards. He became one of Boston’s go-to guys down the stretch in the fourth quarter, as Boston took advantage of Embiid, basically, taking the night off. Queta’s debut as the team’s starting center didn’t lead to a win, but you have to be encouraged with what you saw through 25 minutes of action until he fouled out of the game.

I thought Brown was so-so. Good, not great. He did enough offensively (25 points) to help Boston be in a position to win the game, but certainly didn’t take over the game by any means. You didn’t get any of those patented back-breaker plays from Brown, and maybe that can be tied directly back to the hamstring tightness he’s been dealing with since the preseason finale.

Both Brown and Mazzulla downplayed his hamstring postgame, but I’m dubious.

Pritchard had 16 points on the night but was awful from three, going 1 for 7 from beyond the arc. Pritchard’s one three-pointer came with 15.9 left to pull Boston within one at 115-114 after already blowing their lead in the 4th quarter. And with 9.1 remaining, his driving layup, again, kept Boston within one at 117-116. So if you weren’t paying attention all game, you might think Pritchard had a nice night. I’m here to tell you he didn’t, and that Boston is going to need a whole lot better moving forward from their new starting point guard.

Hauser wasn’t much better, with 8 points on 2 of 6 shooting.

Lingering Thoughts & Nuggets:

- Xavier Tillman! Remember that guy? After hitting the game-winner in the preseason finale, he appeared to ride that momentum into opening night. After falling completely out of the rotation last season, Tillman played 16 minutes on Wednesday, accounting for 4 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals and a block. With how much this roster lost from last season, it was clear Tillman was going to have an expanded role if he was able to hold up health wise. One game in, it appears the 26-year-old is up for the challenge.

- Should go without saying, but opening night is a far different experience when the team is coming off a disappointing second round playoff exit than it is when the team is heading into a title-defense season loaded with All-Stars. A predictably far more muted atmosphere on Wednesday night than last year’s banner ceremony - the first reminder for fans that they need to re-calibrate their expectations for their beloved boys in green in 2025-26.

- Not surprised to see Jayson Tatum sitting courtside on the bench with his team on opening night, but I’d rather have him in a box away from the court moving forward. Let Brown own this moment he has as the temporary face of the franchise, and keep the true face of the franchise out of harm’s way as much as possible. I know someone falling into Tatum and setting back his rehab process is not likely, but I’m taking no chances with how important he is to Boston moving forward.

- Paul Pierce and Donnie Wahlberg were the only two celebrity sightings for me at the game tonight. If you saw someone else, please share with the class in the comment section. But with this team light on star power, it’s no surprise there wouldn’t be as much star power in the stands.

- Something no one cares about other than the media that I’ve decided to share anyways - the new press conference room setup is great. The lower desk is better for social videos, and the new chairs for the media at A+. Kudos to the Celtics PR staff for upping their game!

Up next for the Celtics - a return to the place where their season ended this past spring, as they head to Madison Square Garden to take on the Knicks on Friday.

Tip-off for that one is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime Video.

Tom Carroll is a contributor for Roundtable, with boots-on-the-ground coverage of all things Boston sports. He's a senior digital content producer for WEEI.com, and a native of Lincoln, RI.