LeBron James won his Philadelphia debut by doing a defensive job he has long disliked. The Philadelphia 76ers held off the New York Knicks 106-100 at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 20, and James’ turn as a stand-in center drew praise, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. On ESPN, Windhorst pointed to that versatility: “The fact that they can rely on all these different offensive players, but also go to LeBron and his defensive flexibility is a reason why the 76ers have a chance to do something special this year.” He also stressed how rare the assignment was: “Now I want to tell you that LeBron has not liked playing defensive center for decades.
I can actually make that statement and it not be an over exaggeration.” Windhorst added that the switch “was needed in this game because of injuries and foul trouble. And guys, he was awesome in this role.” Joel Embiid was the source of that foul trouble, with three fouls in four minutes before the break. During the intermission, Embiid pitched the staff a fix: let James take Karl-Anthony Towns, a Knicks big man with six All-Star selections.
Over the third period, Towns attempted one shot and scored four points. New York made 5 of 21 field goals in that frame, a 23.8% clip. Philadelphia even moved Embiid onto Josh Hart once James had Towns handled, Windhorst said.
Two pounds heavier than Towns, James finished with 14 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal and 1 block. Team USA coach Steve Kerr tried the same matchup at the 2024 Paris Olympics, using James on Serbia’s Nikola Jokic, a three-time NBA MVP, after Embiid hit fourth-quarter foul trouble. Shooting remained a problem: the Sixers made 27.5% of their 3-point attempts and lost the offensive rebounding battle 14-6.
James played down the result: “It’s just one game, but obviously we can learn from the good things that we did, we can learn from the bad things we did tonight.” If whistles pile up on Embiid again, Philadelphia has a fallback: James already ran against Jokic in Paris.
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