LeBron James delivered a standout performance on Friday, scoring 20 points and sealing the Philadelphia 76ers’ 98-93 victory over the New York Knicks as the fourth annual NBA Cup tournament got underway. The result gave the 76ers their second win of the young season against New York, following an opening-night victory at Madison Square Garden that spoiled the defending champions’ banner-raising ceremony. Friday’s games marked the opening night of the league’s in-season tournament, which the Knicks won last year before defeating the San Antonio Spurs to claim their first NBA title since 1973. Group-stage matches will continue through November, counting toward regular-season standings, ahead of the December 4-5 quarterfinals, December 8-9 semifinals, and the December 11 championship game at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Tyrese Maxey led the 76ers with 27 points, helping Philadelphia build an early advantage against a sloppy Knicks side. The visitors built a 14-point lead in the third quarter before withstanding a late surge from New York. Jalen Brunson put the Knicks ahead 90-89 with a step-back three-pointer with 1.32 remaining, but James answered immediately to put Philadelphia back on top. James then secured the win with a tip-in off a missed shot by Maxey with 11.9 seconds left, stretching the lead to 96-91.
James, 41, added nine rebounds, eight assists, one steal, and a signature chase-down block. Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse praised the veteran forward’s performance, calling it his best since joining the franchise as a free agent in July. “I thought he was really good all the way through,” Nurse said. “When we got some downhill stuff, he used his size and knocked them around a little bit for some layups … kind of pushed and organised it. He’s been good, but that was his best game, for sure.” Brunson finished with a team-high 24 points for New York, while Karl-Anthony Towns contributed 22 points and 12 rebounds as the Knicks dropped to a 2-4 record.
Elsewhere across the league, the Dallas Mavericks overcame a halftime deficit to hand the Houston Rockets their first loss of the campaign, 116-111, powered by 35 points from Kyrie Irving and 33 from Cooper Flagg. Houston had held a 51-44 halftime lead and pushed its advantage to 11 points before Dallas turned the tide in the second half. Irving put the Mavericks ahead for good with a three-pointer with 7:01 remaining. “It felt good,” Irving said of the turnaround. “We came in at halftime, we weren’t proud of our effort. We looked each other in the eye, and we were just like, we’ve got to do better.”
In San Francisco, Stephen Curry scored 31 points to guide the Golden State Warriors to a 112-95 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. The contest featured a dramatic momentum swing after the Lakers opened with a 38-15 first-quarter dominance, only for Golden State to match that exact 38-15 scoreline in the second period to level the game 53-53 at halftime. Luka Doncic led the Lakers with 37 points, memorably tumbling to the floor when he was wrong-footed by Curry before the Warriors star sank a three-pointer over him. During the night, Curry raised his career points tally to 26,674, passing Dominique Wilkins’s total of 26,668 to claim 18th place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.
In other matchups, Giannis Antetokounmpo recorded a triple-double of 31 points, 18 rebounds, and 10 assists to drive the Miami Heat past the Indiana Pacers 145-125. The Boston Celtics cruised to a 125-111 win against the Chicago Bulls, aided by 30 points off the bench from Payton Pritchard and 26 from Jayson Tatum during a stretch where the Celtics led by as many as 32 points. Orlando’s Desmond Bane scored 28 points, Franz Wagner added 26, and Wendell Carter chipped in 20 to hold off the Toronto Raptors 121-114, surviving a career-high 41-point effort from Toronto’s Scottie Barnes while sinking 18 three-pointers. Meanwhile, the Detroit Pistons defeated the winless Brooklyn Nets 110-94, handing Brooklyn their fifth consecutive loss behind 20 points from Cade Cunningham and 18 from Ron Holland off the bench.
