LeBron James scored 20 points, including a late tip-in, to help seal the Philadelphia 76ers’ 98-93 victory over the NBA champions New York Knicks on Friday.
The 76ers notched their second win of the young season over the Knicks after spoiling their championship banner-raising with a victory at Madison Square Garden on opening night.
The win had a double edge as Friday’s games marked the start of the fourth edition of the NBA Cup, the NBA in-season tournament won by the Knicks before they went on to beat the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals for their first championship since 1973.
Group-stage Cup games will be played throughout November, all counting in the regular-season standings. Quarterfinals will be played December 4-5 and semifinals December 8-9 before the final on December 11 at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Tyrese Maxey scored 27 points to lead the Sixers, who took control early against the sloppy Knicks.
They led by 14 in the third quarter and weathered a late Knicks surge.
Jalen Brunson’s step-back three-pointer put New York up 90-89 with 1:32 remaining.
James, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, answered with a basket that put Philadelphia back in front and pushed the lead to 96-91 with a tip-in off a Maxey miss with 11.9 seconds left.
LeBron’s ‘best game’
James, 41, added nine rebounds, eight assists, one steal and a vintage chase-down block in what 76ers coach Nick Nurse called his best game since joining 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 led New York with 24 points, and Karl-Anthony Towns added 22 points and 12 rebounds for the Knicks, who fell to 2-4.
The Dallas Mavericks, fuelled by 35 points from Kyrie Irving and 33 from Cooper Flagg, rallied to hand the Houston Rockets their first defeat of the season, 116-111.
The Rockets had emerged from a back-and-forth first half with a 51-44 lead, pushing the advantage to as many as 11 before taking an eight-point lead into the final frame.
Irving’s three-pointer with 7:01 remaining put Dallas back in front, and they wouldn’t trail again, the Mavs finding an answer when Houston twice pulled level in the final stretch.
“It felt good,” Irving said. “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.
“We didn’t bring it in the first half, but the second half we definitely brought it.”
Curry climbs scoring list
Golden State star Stephen Curry scored 31 points to lead the Warriors to a 112-95 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in a rollercoaster contest in San Francisco.
The Lakers outscored the Warriors 38-15 in the first quarter, the Warriors erasing the 23-point deficit by outscoring Los Angeles 38-15 in the second to knot it 53-53 at halftime.
Luka Doncic scored 37 points for the Lakers. The night’s abiding image was of him crashing to the floor as he was wrong-footed by Curry – who fired over him for a three-pointer.
Curry took his career points tally to 26,674, surpassing Dominique Wilkins (26,668) for 18th on the all-time scoring list.
In Miami, Giannis Antetokounmpo delivered a triple-double of 31 points, 18 rebounds and 10 assists to propel the Heat to a 145-125 victory over the Indiana Pacers.
In Boston, the Celtics romped to a 125-111 victory over the Chicago Bulls. Payton Pritchard scored 30 points off the bench, and Jayson Tatum scored 26 for the Celtics, who led by as many as 32 points.
Orlando’s Desmond Bane scored 28 points, Franz Wagner added 26 and Wendell Carter chipped in 20 as the Magic fended off a late challenge to beat the Raptors 121-114 in Toronto.
The Magic drained 18 three-pointers and withstood a career-high 41-point performance from Toronto’s Scottie Barnes.
Detroit shook off a slow start to hand the winless Nets a fifth straight defeat in Brooklyn, where Cade Cunningham scored 20 points, and Ron Holland added 18 off the bench in a 110-94 Pistons victory.
