LeBron James, Jaylen Brown Debut as 76ers Beat Champion Knicks 106-100

By
Harris
-
22

Key Points

  • The Philadelphia 76ers beat the NBA champion New York Knicks 106-100 at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night, after the Knicks raised their title banner.
  • LeBron James had 14 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in his 76ers debut, and Jaylen Brown added 19 points in his first game since leaving Boston.
  • Tyrese Maxey led all scorers with 28 points, while Jalen Brunson scored 21 on 6-of-19 shooting.
  • Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 32 as Oklahoma City won 116-104 at San Antonio, where Victor Wembanyama went 1 for 13 from the field.
  • Detroit rallied past Boston 121-113 despite 38 points from Paul George in his Celtics debut.

The 76ers and Knicks opened their seasons on Tuesday night with a party at Madison Square Garden, and Philadelphia spoiled it. The Sixers rallied to beat the champions 106-100, with LeBron James and Jaylen Brown both making their debuts in Philadelphia uniforms.

Tyrese Maxey scored 28 points to lead the way, and the Knicks fell to 0-1 on the night their banner went up.

What happened

Before the 7 p.m. ET tip, New York raised the banner for its first championship since 1973 and handed out rings in front of a sellout crowd of 19,812. Jalen Brunson, last season’s NBA Finals MVP, told the fans, “The joy that this city had this summer, we would love to replicate that again,” according to The Associated Press.

The first half was full of fouls and missed shots. The Knicks led by as many as 10 and took a 58-54 lead into halftime.

Philadelphia took over late in the third quarter. The Sixers closed the period on an 11-0 run, capped by Brown’s second straight 3-pointer at the buzzer, for an 83-76 lead, the AP reported. Maxey’s three-point play early in the fourth made it 87-78.

The Knicks got within 96-95 on a Karl-Anthony Towns 3-pointer, but Joel Embiid answered with a 3 of his own and the Sixers stayed ahead. The game had six lead changes and four ties, according to the NBA’s official scorer’s report; full stats are on the NBA.com game page.

Opening night at a glance

Game Final Top scorer
Celtics at Pistons Pistons 121, Celtics 113 Paul George, BOS, 38
76ers at Knicks 76ers 106, Knicks 100 Tyrese Maxey, PHI, 28
Thunder at Spurs Thunder 116, Spurs 104 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, OKC, 32

Source: NBA and ESPN box scores, Oct. 20, 2026.

Latest development

The official box shows how Philadelphia’s new pieces fit on night one. Brown, acquired from Boston in the offseason, had 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists in nearly 35 minutes. James, who began what the AP called an NBA-record 24th season, shot 5 of 13 and finished with 14 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.

Maxey shot 9 of 19 with three steals and three blocks. Embiid added 13 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Anfernee Simons scored 13 off the bench.

For New York, Brunson made all eight of his free throws but only 6 of 19 shots. Towns had 19 points and 12 rebounds, and Andre Drummond had 12 points and 14 rebounds. The Knicks outscored Philadelphia 28-7 in second-chance points but shot 37.2% from the field.

Elsewhere on opening night

In San Antonio, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 32 points and Jared McCain added 20 on 6-of-8 shooting from 3-point range as Oklahoma City beat the Spurs 116-104. It was the teams’ first meeting since San Antonio won Game 7 of last season’s Western Conference finals 111-103 in Oklahoma City on May 30.

The rematch got heated. De’Aaron Fox was called for a flagrant 1 foul early in the second quarter for throwing Chet Holmgren to the floor, and Victor Wembanyama, Jaylin Williams, Jalen Williams and Kenrich Williams each received a technical after the scrum, the AP reported. Wembanyama finished with 12 points, 13 rebounds and six blocks but made only 1 of 13 shots, and Stephon Castle led San Antonio with 24.

Earlier, in Tuesday afternoon’s season opener in Detroit, the Pistons came back from a 72-50 deficit early in the third quarter to beat Boston 121-113. Paul George, who joined the Celtics from Philadelphia in the Brown trade, scored 38 points with seven 3-pointers, the most by a Celtic in his debut, according to the AP. Jayson Tatum shot 6 of 23. Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren scored 22 each for Detroit, and Javonte Green added 19 after sitting out the first half.

Why it matters

Opening night put the offseason’s biggest moves on the floor at once. Philadelphia was swept by the Knicks in the second round last spring before trading for Brown and signing James, the NBA’s career scoring leader, after he left the Los Angeles Lakers. Beating the champions on their own ring night is an early marker for a rebuilt roster, even though Philadelphia shot 41.6% from the field and 27.5% from 3-point range.

For the Knicks, the loss is one game in a long title defense. In the West, the Thunder-Spurs rematch showed, as the AP put it, that “nearly five months apart did not cool this heated rivalry.”

What happens next

Up next, according to the AP:

  • The 76ers host the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night.
  • The Thunder host the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night.
  • The Knicks visit the Celtics on Friday night.
  • The Spurs host the Houston Rockets in Austin on Friday night, and the Pistons visit the Miami Heat on Friday.

For more NBA offseason background, see how the Raptors completed the Kawhi Leonard trade after an NBA cap probe.

Related live coverage

Find national news channels streaming on the LiveNewsWorld Watch Live hub. In baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays won the AL pennant and will face the Milwaukee Brewers in the World Series.

Sources