Sixers knock off Knicks 98-93 in the NBA Cup opener

Six games in, the Sixers have one loss and two wins over the defending champs.

Philly knocked off the Knicks again on Friday night, 98-93, in the NBA Cup opener at Xfinity Mobile Arena. That’s 2-0 against New York this season after the opening-night win, and the Knicks have dropped to 2-4. Sorry, Knicks fans. The championship banner doesn’t come with a pass on how to beat the Sixers.

Tyrese Maxey led the way with 27 points on 10-of-19 shooting. LeBron James nearly had a triple-double with 20 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Anfernee Simons came off the bench and dropped 21. Jalen Brunson had 24 points and six assists for New York, and Karl-Anthony Towns put up 22 and 12.

Tyrese Maxey and LeBron James showed out as the Sixers defeat the Knicks for the second time this season 🔥 pic.twitter.com/xKXKbcEFJC

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) October 31, 2026

Sixers offense was humming early

The first quarter was about as clean as it gets: eight assists and zero turnovers in 12 minutes.

The Knicks kept taking away the first option, and the Sixers’ stars kept finding the second one. Joel Embiid (10 points, seven rebounds, seven assists) was the hub. He ran a two-man game with LeBron late in the shot clock for a layup, set a big ball screen that freed LeBron for an open three, and threw a slick jump pass along the baseline to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope for a layup.

Joel doesn’t get enough credit as a passer. The Sixers are trusting him to make decisions out of the short roll more than expected, and he’s making defenses pay for it. He and LeBron are going to share that playmaking role all season, and so far Embiid is reading the floor really well.

Then there’s Maxey. When he gets going early, everything gets easier for everybody else, and that’s exactly what happened. It was the reverse of Wednesday’s comeback in Indiana, when he struggled early and closed the game. Name another player who’s ever been this fast and this good a shooter at the same time. You can’t. That combo is close to impossible to game-plan for.

Dean Wade is exactly as advertised

Wade moved into the starting lineup, and he did Dean Wade things.

He locked up OG Anunoby and had three steals in the first half, a few of them coming back-to-back-to-back. He’s one of the few guys in the league who can legitimately guard 1 through 5, and his hands and activity gum up whatever the other team is trying to run. He scored zero points. The Sixers don’t win without his 27 minutes. LeBron said as much after the game, calling Wade the kind of guy you can always count on to make winning plays.

If there’s one thing to nitpick, it’s that Wade passes up some great spot-up looks. He could stand to be a little more aggressive as a shooter. But that’s grading on a curve.

And it wasn’t just Wade. The team defense was excellent again. VJ Edgecombe was all over Brunson, New York had just 44 points at the half, and even when the Knicks had the ball moving on a string, the Sixers kept rotating, helping and recovering, possession after possession. That’s a group that takes pride in that end of the floor.

Then the Sixers let them back in

Embiid took an arm to the face from Josh Hart late in the second quarter and headed to the bench holding his face, but he was good to go for the third. The Sixers pushed the lead to 58-44 early in the half and forced a Knicks timeout.

Then the turnovers started piling up, Brunson started cooking, and the lead shrank to five.

That’s when Simons took over. He hit three threes in the third quarter and drilled a baseline jumper, and LeBron found Caldwell-Pope for another triple with a beautiful skip pass out of the post. Simons is flat-out overqualified for a bench role. He’s got more on-ball juice than people realize, but it’s the movement shooting that’s going to matter most. This doesn’t look like a team that’s going to bomb threes at a high clip, so every shot he hits means more. The Sixers don’t win either of the last two games without him going nuclear.

The Bona problem

The second half also exposed the Sixers’ biggest weakness: backup center.

Adem Bona plays hard, and you have to respect that. But he’s too raw for the simple stuff. Screen-setting, defending without fouling, and positioning on both ends all need work, and it shows against good teams.

His fourth foul came on a Jordan Clarkson and-one with 8:42 left, and New York finished with a 20-7 edge in second-chance points. He’s a stop-gap until Barlow, Walker and Fall are available. What this team really needs is a legit backup center, whether it comes from free agency or a trade.

Embiid’s return didn’t fix things right away either. Clarkson’s putback made it 85-82, and a Brunson jumper got the Knicks within two with the visiting fans getting loud.

LeBron flipped the switch

The Sixers threw blitz after blitz at Brunson down the stretch, and he still buried a contested corner three over Edgecombe to give New York a 90-89 lead.

LeBron answered with a mid-range jumper. After a stop, Edgecombe drained a three from the top of the key. Brunson split a pair at the line, Maxey missed a tough look inside, and LeBron was right there to grab it and lay it in.

FULL CLUTCH MOMENT: LeBron and VJ Edgecombe clutch shots in win vs Knicks pic.twitter.com/JiFCzi7h3Z

— Abzy🐂 (@nbabzyy) October 31, 2026

LeBron treated this one like a playoff game, and you could feel it all night, especially with Brown out. He can’t bring that every night at this stage, and he shouldn’t. But when it’s a big game with a chance to make a statement, expect him to find this gear as he ramps up over 82 games.

One thing to watch

If there’s a worry, it’s the outside shooting from Embiid and Edgecombe. Take out VJ’s 5-of-10 night against Milwaukee and the two of them are a combined 6-of-38 from three. That’s 16%.

Embiid as a popper is supposed to be a big part of this offense, and VJ is going to keep getting wide-open catch-and-shoot looks. The best version of this team needs both of them punishing defenses that collapse on Maxey, Brown and LeBron. It’s not panic time, but it’s something to keep an eye on.

5-1 and earned

It wasn’t the smoothest finish, but beating a real East contender twice in six games isn’t luck. Maxey said afterward that this team isn’t going to just give up, and so far it hasn’t.

The Sixers finish the back-to-back Saturday night in Charlotte, then host Cleveland next Friday in their second NBA Cup game.

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