PHILADELPHIA – It took an extra three weeks, but Joel Embiid’s regular season is finally underway.

The superstar center made his season debut Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center against the New York Knicks after sitting out the first nine games due to his left knee injury and then receiving a three-game suspension for pushing a reporter.

And after a predictably up-and-down performance over 26 minutes – 13 points on 2-for-11 shooting from the field (but 8-for-8 from the free-throw line), plus 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 block – in a 111-99 loss, Embiid said it will take time to regain confidence in pushing hard on his troublesome left knee.

“It’s all about confidence and trust in myself,” he said. “Drop off… I talked about it a few weeks ago when I was talking to you guys, that’s the mental hurdle I have to get over. But I think even without that I can still be pretty good, and I’m going to doing.” to arrive at some point.

“I don’t know when. Maybe the next game, maybe in two games… (but) usually I get it back pretty quickly, so I’m doing well.”

Not much is right these days with the 76ers (2-8), who are 14th in the Eastern Conference standings with a game against the undefeated Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday. It remains to be seen whether Embiid or fellow star Paul George will play.

The 76ers previously made it clear they planned to prioritize the health of their veteran stars as the season progresses. But that was also before their injury-riddled start, as Embiid, George (bone bruise in his left knee) and Tyrese Maxey (hamstring strain) have all been injured.

“I think it’s all about us getting on the floor together and learning to play with each other,” Embiid said. “But health is a big thing. “I’m back, PG is feeling pretty good, now we have to get Tyrese back, and once we’re all on the floor, I think we’ll have a pretty good chance to win some games.”

The Knicks (5-5) don’t have those problems. They had the same starting lineup — Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns — plus sixth man Deuce McBride available for their 10 games.

And while Tuesday started with so much attention on Embiid’s season debut, it quickly shifted to Towns — the central New Jersey native playing his first game in the rivalry — who had one of his best all-around performances as a Knick.

Towns scored eight points in the first few minutes, finishing with 21 points, 13 rebounds and 6 assists, setting the tone with his energy on both ends.

“Yes, obviously Joel is a great defensive player,” Hart said. “But the first game back, it takes a while to get into the rhythm. (Towns) did what we needed him to do, came out of the gate, got a couple threes, attacked the rim, played how we needed him to set the tone early, we got big rebounds and we kind of fed off of that.”

Embiid had not played in a competitive match since the US won gold at the Paris Olympics in August. He hadn’t played for the 76ers since the Knicks ousted them in Game 6 of the first round of the playoffs in April.

And against the Knicks Tuesday night, he looked like a player who had spent a lot of time off the court.

His trademark touch with his jumper eluded him and he finished 1-for-5 on 3-pointers. His face-up play was also a bit slow, with Towns repeatedly failing to get his hands on the ball as Embiid tried to charge for a drive, forcing him to reset.

And while playing against Towns and a Knicks offense that often had five players beyond the three-point line, Embiid spent much of the night walking around the court trying to keep up with New York’s offensive firepower.

“He was definitely rusty,” 76ers coach Nick Nurse said. “I think conditioning started quite early. I’ve seen him play that before, a kind of reaction in the second half after being out of action. It seemed to work a bit, but I thought he was in the fourth half got a little tired again.” But again, that was probably to be expected, I thought he played with a pretty good competitive spirit for what he was able to do there.”

In the end, however, the result was another loss for the 76ers. And while the Eastern Conference’s forgiving rankings — where only the Boston Celtics and Cavaliers are better than .500 — gives a team like Philadelphia time to get its act together, the 76ers are hoping that process can begin now with the return of Embiid.

“The season is long,” said George. “I really think once we get all our pieces together, we’ll start making steps in the right direction. We’ll start to get some consistency and the chemistry will continue to rise. Right now it’s Joel’s (Embiid) first game back Tyrese (Maxey) is still out, so we still have to see this team complete. Those are big pieces for us.

“We’re all trying to do a little bit more than we should be doing, which is OK because we’re trying to fill in big gaps and gaps, but once we get to full strength, I think we can do that then.” judge how we are doing.”