The Sixers emptied the bench to close out the regular season and snagged a win in the process, closing the 72-game slate with a 128-117 victory over Orlando. Philadelphia finishes the year 49-23, first in the Eastern Conference, and riding a tidal wave of good vibes after a nightmare 2019-20 season.

Here's what I saw. Thanks for riding along with me for another regular season, strange as this one was.

The Good

• For a lot of this season, I feel like I've been commenting on how I like Tyrese Maxey as a complement to other players they have on the second unit. At the beginning of the season, he was a fun partner for Shake Milton. Later on this year, he seems like a nice change-of-pace next to the more methodical George Hill. At a certain point, it just reflects the skill of the young man in question, and he is finding his way as the regular season winds to a close.

• MORE ON THE SIXERS
• For Joel Embiid and the Sixers, No. 1 seed was years in the making
  
• Kobe Bryant enters Basketball Hall of Fame, Jay Wright named to 2021 class
  
• Instant observations: Sixers clinch No. 1 seed in East with blowout win over Magic
  

The last time Maxey had this much freedom to operate, half of the team was on the shelf due to COVID protocols. If he didn't match his performance against Denver from early in this season, he came damn close, and Maxey showed the best parts of that Nuggets effort combined with the increased maturity he has gained along the way. Seeing him pull up for deep threes in transition and get all the way to the rim off his own dribble inspires hope for a bright future, especially when he flows out of scoring mode into lobs for teammates and easy dimes to his shooters. With the right help, Maxey could be a big-time contributor sooner than later.

You can see a difference in Maxey when he's allowed to lead on the floor compared to when he's a secondary player next to the big guns. That's actually sort of encouraging — as he finds his footing and his voice in that locker room with more time accrued, I think he'll find it easier to take over games with the full lineup healthy.

One last time before the playoffs begin: I think Maxey needs to be in the rotation, full stop. If he shrinks under the spotlight, it's not a huge deal and won't be hard to overcome against first-round opposition. Getting him those early reps could pay dividends later in the playoffs, and he provides second-unit dynamism that nobody else can.

Look, he's not going to face anybody as bad and outgunned as this Magic group in the playoffs, but this is the exact sort of performance you want to see from one of your young players in this spot. It's like watching a Summer League game — it doesn't really matter or mean anything, but dominating lesser competition always makes you feel just a little bit more confident in a guy's future.

• A few smaller blurbs related to Sunday's game before we focus on the big picture:

1. I don't know if Paul Reed is ever going to get there as a player — he's a ball of chaos when he self-creates, and he has some bad off-ball tendencies on defense — but I just love how hard that dude plays. Every time he has gotten an opportunity this season, Reed has played like he was shot out of a cannon. He's going to give himself a chance to make it through that effort alone, and he certainly has an interesting combination of tools beyond that.
2. George Hill was overqualified to play in that game, but it was probably good for him to get some more minutes under his belt given the year he has had. His teammates left a few buckets on the table that he had otherwise created, and I still believe he's going to be an important crunch-time figure for Philly in the playoffs.
3. Rayjon Tucker probably doesn't do enough on offense to stick, but that guy is an absolutely nuclear athlete and he is prepared to jump over, around, or through his opponent at all times. He has shown he can hang on defense in a playoff situation already (last year in the bubble with Utah), so perhaps some more skill development work can get him to a place where he can stay on the floor and earn some minutes.

• We live in a much different world than we did in 2001 for an uncountable number of reasons, but I really hope Sixers fans are enjoying the hell out of this season. The franchise may have a rich history with some iconic stars having worn the red, white, and blue, but it has been rare for Philadelphia to pace the Eastern Conference. These opportunities don't come around that often.

I can still remember the Sixers car flags, the constant MVP chants, and the deafening roar of a packed arena when Allen Iverson dragged this team to the Finals two decades ago. Embiid is not the iconoclast Iverson was — that's a high bar to clear — but he is a dominant, hyper-aware showman who finally seems to understand his responsibility as the leader of this franchise. He will give them a chance against just about anybody, and given the playoff picture (which we'll get to tomorrow), a Conference Finals appearance should be the minimum expected for this group.

They aren't the favorites, but they have a real shot to win a title. Remember to enjoy that. 

• By that same token, one more moment of appreciation for the season Joel Embiid is having before we start the playoffs. It looked like it was all going to come crashing down after that scary fall in D.C., but thankfully for the big fella, his teammates, and all of us watching these guys hoop, he avoided catastrophe and will lead this team in the playoffs.

In 2020-21, Embiid made the hardest leap there is to make, cracking the group of the league's very best players after struggling to string together consistent performances in years past because of health, focus, conditioning, or Al Horford's carcass getting in his way. Almost every night this season, you knew what you were going to get from Embiid and he would amaze anyway, busting out moves paying homage to legends like Nowitzki and Olajuwon as if they were easy to pull off.

The hard part is still ahead, but the journey to get here was tremendous on its own. He's unlikely to get the individual hardware he strived for, but the ultimate prize is still there for the taking. Time for him to show what he's made of.

• We will have to wait and see whether Doc Rivers is the guy to take this team to the promised land, and his past playoff struggles won't fade into the background until/unless he proves himself like his star pupils are expected to. But it seems clear that he was the right guy for this group, and that he and his staff have made a difference this year.

Need proof of that? Look at the performance the second unit turned in on the final day of the season. Maxey may have had a dominant night individually, but this group played team basketball pretty much all night, finding time and opportunities for everybody in the lineup in what could have been a borderline pickup game. This game was used to play useful basketball that Rivers and Co. can use to review and teach later.

Of course, Rivers will get (and deserve) much more credit for what he has gotten out of Embiid and the performance of the usual starters. Fair enough, but it's not the only way he has shown his value this year.

• "Surround Embiid and Simmons with shooters" may not have been the most inventive strategy to kick off the Daryl Morey era, but you could have said that when any number of people have been in charge of the team over the last half-decade. The correct solution is often the simple one, and Morey refusing to overthink it was a major key to this season.

The Bad

• They finished No. 1 in the East and won the last game pretty easily despite sitting everybody. You were expecting complaints? 

The Ugly

• Being on recap duty for every game of an NBA season can be an exhausting experience, especially during a year with so many late scratches and lineup absences in a short span of time. There are times when I question my sanity for committing to every game recaps, as colleagues rotate responsibilities or take nights off and the Sixers get blown out playing their fifth game in a week.

But it is a joy to get to do this even in the worst of times, and I am grateful to have this platform to talk about basketball with you all. As always, I can't wait to get rolling in the playoffs, and I hope the ride lasts deep into the summer. Let's have some more fun.

Follow Kyle on Twitter: @KyleNeubeck

Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports

Subscribe to Kyle's Sixers podcast "The New Slant" on Apple, Google, and Spotify