The Philadelphia 76ers sent an opening-night message that they intend to challenge the New York Knicks for the NBA title after adding LeBron James and Jaylen Brown, rallying for a 106-100 victory on Tuesday. Tyrese Maxey scored 28 points and Brown had 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists in his first game since being acquired from Boston. James began his NBA-record 24th season with 14 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
The 76ers got three three-pointers from Anfernee Simons and two from fellow newcomer Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, as the reserves took advantage of open looks when the Knicks were caught focusing too much on Philadelphia’s bigger names. Jalen Brunson scored 21 points but the NBA finals MVP shot just six for 19 from the field. Brunson told fans inside Madison Square Garden during a pregame ceremony, when the Knicks raised their NBA championship banner and received their rings: “The joy that this city had this summer, we would love to replicate that again.” Maybe they can, but they will have to play a lot better than they did on Tuesday, when they shot 37% overall and 33.3% from three-point range.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 19 points and 12 rebounds. The Knicks dominated the 76ers in a second-round sweep, early in their streak of 13 straight victories as part of a 16-3 finish with the highest point differential in NBA postseason history. Philadelphia then traded for Brown and signed James after the NBA’s career scoring leader decided to leave the Los Angeles Lakers, giving the 76ers the potential to be one of the best teams in the league.
They certainly didn’t have a smooth start but improved as the game went on. The Sixers closed the third quarter with an 11-0 run, capped by Brown’s second straight three-pointer at the buzzer, which gave Philadelphia an 83-76 lead. Maxey’s three-point play early in the fourth made it 87-78.
The Knicks cut the deficit to 96-95 when Towns made a three-pointer, but Joel Embiid answered with one of his own and the Sixers stayed ahead. Embiid finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Brunson, wearing gold sneakers for the occasion, couldn’t help the Knicks recover by hitting the kind of big shots he made when they repeatedly came back to beat San Antonio in five games for their first championship since 1973.
The festive pregame party gave way to a first half filled with long stretches of fouls and missed shots, leaving little reason for the cheers to continue. The Knicks went ahead by 10 during one good stretch, but their lead was down to 58-54 at halftime. Duncan Robinson scored 15 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter as the Detroit Pistons reeled off 23 unanswered points to beat the visiting Boston Celtics 121-113 in the NBA’s regular-season opener on Tuesday afternoon.
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