BOSTON — A 13-point fourth-quarter lead against an undermanned Philadelphia 76ers squad wasn’t enough to earn the Celtics a win in their season opener.

Boston’s first game after its seismic offseason overhaul ended in a 117-116 loss at TD Garden.

Jaylen Brown and Derrick White — the only remaining starters from this team’s 61-win predecessor — each scored 25 points to lead the Celtics. New starting center Neemias Queta had 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting and eight blocks before fouling out late in the fourth quarter. Payton Pritchard scored 16 points and Anfernee Simons added 13, and both were on the court to close the game.

Sixers rookie VJ Edgecombe was terrific in his NBA debut (34 points, seven rebounds, three assists), but he missed two free throws with 8.5 seconds remaining to give the Celtics a final chance to win it. Pritchard’s would-be buzzer-beater from 13 feet missed the mark.

Tyrese Maxey led all scorers with 40 points, carrying the Sixers’ big three while Paul George sat out with an injury and the visibly limited Joel Embiid was held to four points on 1-of-9 shooting in 20 minutes.

The Celtics will face the New York Knicks on Friday night at Madison Square Garden.

Coach Joe Mazzulla has said the Celtics’ starting lineup could change from game to game this season, but on opening night, it featured five returning players: Pritchard, White, Brown, Sam Hauser and Queta. Mazzulla’s first sub was another holdover: Xavier Tillman, who checked in for Queta after three minutes

An end-of-the-bench player last season, Tillman set himself up for a larger role by cleaning up a lingering issue and improving his explosiveness this summer. It didn’t take the veteran big man long to make an impact. In one impressive first-quarter sequence, he locked down Embiid 1-on-1, forced a turnover and then scored a transition layup at the other end.

Offseason additions Simons, Josh Minott, Chris Boucher and Luka Garza all saw action in the opening 10 minutes, as well — part of Mazzulla’s plan to employ a deep bench to maintain the high level of energy he believes the Celtics must play with this season.

The most energetic newcomer on the court in the first quarter, though, was Edgecombe. The No. 3 overall draft pick poured in 14 first-quarter points, including three 3-pointers and a thunderous blow-by dunk against the slower-footed Tillman.

Edgecombe’s backcourt partner, Maxey, scored the first six points of the second quarter to put Philadelphia ahead 32-28. A Celtics timeout and a quick Hauser 3 halted that flurry, and Boston responded with an 11-2 run punctuated by Brown’s second trey of the game.

Hauser and Brown went 3 for 4 from deep in the first half. Their teammates? Just 2 for 19, including 1 for 5 from White and 0 for 5 from Pritchard. Those perimeter struggles, coupled with another flurry from Maxey, helped the Sixers build an eight-point cushion in the second quarter and take a 57-51 lead into halftime. Edgecombe and Maxey provided 38 of those 57 points for Philly.

Once the second half tipped off, momentum quickly shifted back toward Boston. Brown set the tone with a pair of tough layups, then White took over. The veteran guard hit two 3-pointers in quick succession and blocked a shot that led to a corner 3 for Hauser. White then drew fouls on his next three field-goal attempts to power a 16-0 Celtics run. He made more free throws during that rally (7 for 7) than the Celtics made as a team before halftime.

Simons also chipped in five points and three rebounds during Boston’s third-quarter surge. The Celtics played the late stages of that rally with a lineup of Simons, Pritchard, White, Brown and Tillman — an extremely undersized grouping that offers intriguing offensive potential.

The most accomplished new Celtic showed up again in the fourth. After Maxey and Brown traded blows to open the quarter (three 3s from the former, a contested layup and a long 2 from the latter), Simons sprinted down the court off a Maxey miss to throw down a two-handed transition jam that reminded fans why he won the NBA’s Slam Dunk Contest in 2021.

Simons, a three-year starter in Portland now playing a bench role for Boston, also flexed his much-maligned defensive ability by chasing down Maxey and preventing a transition layup.

The Celtics led 94-84 with 9:18 remaining after Simons’ dunk. The Sixers quickly cut it to two, but Boston regained control after successfully challenging an offensive foul on Brown. Queta, who vaulted from fourth to first on the Celtics’ center depth chart this offseason, helped his team maintain a late lead with four makes at the rim. But the C’s couldn’t hold it.

Maxey drew Queta’s sixth and final foul and made both free throws to make it a one-possession game with 1:42 to play, and Kelly Oubre’s 3-pointer on the ensuing Sixers possession put Philly ahead for good.

Pritchard scored a 3-pointer and a layup in the final 20 seconds, each cutting Boston’s deficit to one, but the go-ahead bucket never came.

Other observations ...

— The Celtics lost one rotation player shortly before halftime when Garza collided with Adem Bona while crashing for a rebound. Mazzulla appeared to yell for Garza to get up while the big man wobbled to his feet, and though he briefly remained in the game — and even blocked a Maxey layup — he soon headed toward the locker room while trainers treated bleeding from his face. Garza was placed in concussion protocol and ruled out for the rest of the game.

— Reserve wings Baylor Scheierman, Jordan Walsh and Hugo Gonzalez were the lone DNP-CDs on Boston’s roster. Scheierman and Walsh — bit players on last season’s team — are coming off uneven preseasons. Gonzalez, a 19-year-old rookie who showed promise during the exhibition slate, walked to the scorer’s table late in the third quarter but was called back to the bench. Two-way rookie point guard Max Shulga also dressed but did not play.

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