CAMDEN, N.J. — The Philadelphia 76ers were capped when it came to Joel Embiid’s availability down the stretch in Wednesday’s opener with the Boston Celtics. The big fella was on a strict minutes restriction of 20 minutes and once he got there, coach Nick Nurse had to pull him.

In his place, Nurse had to turn to two-way big man Dominick Barlow at the center spot. All throughout training camp, Nurse has stated that he likes Barlow at the 4, but he had to play him–and Jabari Walker–at the 5 in an effort to get some quality minutes with Embiid off the floor.

Barlow did more than that. He had 13 points, eight rebounds, and five assists while making big plays in the fourth to help the Sixers knock off a tough Celtics team. He’s been a helpful piece of this team since camp began and his teammates are taking notice.

“He can do everything really,” Quentin Grimes said of Barlow. “He can shoot the ball a little bit. He can put it on the ground, make play for himself, for others, so just having a guy like that who can stretch the defense and kind of get everybody out the paint, because they gotta honor his shot a little bit. Then he can put it on the ground. He’s just active, you know what I mean? He’s long, athletic. So having a guy like that, who can just kind of do a little bit of everything, kind of helps us worry about our matchup and stuff like that on the defensive end.”

In the fourth quarter on Wednesday, Barlow had four points, three rebounds, two assists, and was a plus-11 in 9:18 of playing time. His activity on both ends of the floor was imperative in helping the Sixers get the job done on the road. He made some impressive on-the-ball defensive plays that helped force turnovers and allow Philadelphia to go the other way.

“Dom is a really good player,” added rookie VJ Edgecombe. “A really versatile player. Also, somebody who can stretch the floor. Somebody that can also attack the rim, offensive rebound. He does all little things, man. Credit to Dom, and I see him in here every day. He’s working hard. He’s always in here working hard every day, man. So I know he knows what he’s doing well. The team knows what he’s doing well. He knows what he needs to do.”

When considering the Sixers had a versatile big man in the form of Guerschon Yabusele in the 2024-25, it is helpful that they have a guy like Barlow to take his spot on the team as they move forward. Barlow did a little bit of everything out on the floor and, even though he is a little different than Yabusele, he provided a lot of versatility for Nurse and his staff.

“I think, in the ideal world, you want guys who can do multiple things,” Nurse stated. “I think that Barlow—he’s done one thing really well which is play really hard. 1A would be crashing the glass, but he knows what he’s doing out there. He knows what he’s doing. He makes the right reads. He can take it off the bounce a bit. I think that’s something that should go into his game.”

Barlow has a bit of a smooth stroke as well. That’s something Nurse wants to see more out of him from the 3-point line as Philadelphia forges ahead.

“I do believe that he’s gonna shoot the ball at some point,” Nurse finished. “I don’t know when that’s gonna be, but it’s been several months that the staff has, and him, I said to him ‘Hey, I wanna work with you on your shot one day this summer’ and he goes ‘I’ll be there tomorrow, man. I’ll be there any day you want me to be there.’ So, he’s put in the time and I think that he’ll get some of those rewards at some point as well.”

The Sixers will look for more from Barlow in their home opener on Saturday against the Charlotte Hornets.