Philadelphia 76ers vs. New York Knicks Live NBA Updates, Scores and Highlights

At least 14 to 27 other teams have to be terrified right now, right?

Sure, the Knicks have played better games. But an unfamiliar-to-one-another Sixers squad taking down the reigning champs, while on the road, might be an opening-night inflection point we need to revisit later.

Everyone's happy after a win, but Anfernee Simons and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope provided timely second-half shot-making from the perimeter.

In the moment, it felt like Philly might need to suss out some sharpshooters entering the trade deadline. That might still be the case. Tyrese Maxey is the team's lone deadeye guarantee.

Then again, the calculus changes if the Sixers can eke out four to six made threes per game from KCP and Simons combined.

Paint me every possible shade of skeptical that Joel Embiid can play at an All-Defense level for an entire season. The availability rug always, always, always seems to get ripped out from underneath him.

Still, if he's able to move and change shots like he did against the Knicks all season long, the Sixers have no ceiling. That version of Embiid isn't just good. He's dominant.

Once more, with feeling: We can't believe this until we see it. On Tuesday night, we saw it. How often we continue seeing it remains to be, well, seen.

They're both really, really, ridiculous fast, according to LeBron.

Kinda. Sorta. Not really. But maybe a little bit.

Brown has another good point here. Jalen Brunson took all three of the Knicks' crunch-time field-goal attempt. He made only one of them, and the two misses came off a shoddy offensive process.

New York's over-reliance on Brunson throughout games, particularly down the stretch, has been a storyline since he arrived. This is a good reminder that heliocentricism can't always be the answer. Captain Clutch should be a tool in the belt rather than the entire arsenal.

The box score only tells part of the story. Joel Embiid finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, two steals and three blocks. That's great. But he also moved as well as we've seen in a while on defense.

New York shot just 8-of-16 around the rim with Embiid on the floor, as well as only 4-of-18 (22 percent) on twos inside the paint but outside the restricted area. If he even approaches the deterrence level he reached at the peak of his powers, the Sixers' defense goes from a perceived weakness to a potential strength.

Andre Drummond ended up being the second-most used player off the bench and logging more minutes than Karl-Anthony Towns. He had a largely dynamite first half but was 1-of-5 and a team-worst minus-13 in the second half.

So yeah, Towns needs to stay out of foul trouble moving forward. This also speaks to the importance of the Knicks having a playable third big. And if it can't be James Wiseman, head coach Mike Brown may need to explore no-center looks.

You could tell LeBron didn't quite have everything figured out on offense. He's still feeling out when to attack and when to defer.

With that said, he ho-hummed his way to a near-triple-double anyway: 14 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. True to his comments, the Sixers' defense was locked in for much of the evening. That includes LeBron himself.

New York was outscored by 16-5 in transition during the second half. The starting lineup overall was a minus-10 on the evening. So, Brown's comments track.

Quiet nights from OG Anunoby (3-of-12, 10 points) and Mikal Bridges (2-of-8, four points) at the offensive end didn't do the Knicks any favors, either. Ditto for Karl-Anthony Towns' first-half foul trouble.

The numbers won't reflect too highly of Philly's offensive performance. It scored just 101.9 points per 100 possessions on the evening, per Prime Stats. But they ended up hitting threes and taking the transition battle when it mattered most.

Through it all, you could see the flickers of dominance that might soon become the default. Tyrese Maxey's ability to create space and generate speed off the dribble is unparalleled. LeBron James set screens and attacked downhill in the second half.

Joel Embiid's scoring and passing offset his turnovers. Jaylen Brown game-flowed his way to 19 points and a team-best plus-17. VJ Edgecombe didn't shoot well or often (4-of-10 from the floor), but it didn't impact his defensive engagement.

Credit goes to the overall defense, too. Philly held New York to 27.3 percent shooting on twos and 25 percent shooting on threes in the half-court alone. Embiid made some aggressive plays, both near and away from the basket. LeBron was locked in. Tyrese Maxey is a walking pick-six. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope might not be washed!

There were times when the Sixers looked small and disjointed. But the good moments outweighed the bad—no small feat when you consider how little time this team has spent together.

Philly overcame a 10-point second-half deficit to spoil the Knicks' ring night. It wasn't always pretty, but the Sixers have to happy with what they got from Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid at both ends of the floor.

FINAL SCORE: Sixers 106, Knicks 100

Tyrese Maxey just pick-sixed a pass from OG Anunoby to extend Philly's lead to six inside two minutes to play. He now has three steals and three blocks to go along with 28 points on the night.

Philly is also capitalizing on New York's decision to trap the pick-and-roll. It's resulted in a few 4-on-3 situations the Sixers are successfully exploiting.

Score: Sixers 104, Knicks 98 | 1:52 remaining in the fourth quarter

OK, so if my math is correct, this means the seventh-best player on last year's Celtics is the best player on this year's Sixers.

This game is getting messy.

The Knicks have ratcheted up the defensive intensity and are scoring off broken plays. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has been fantastic defensively all night and is now starting to hit shots. Every LeBron James-Tyrese Maxey action feels like it's going to end with a bucket, even when it doesn't.

Strap in, folks. If the first 43 minutes are any indication, we're headed for a wild ending.

Score: Sixers 96, Knicks 92 | 5:22 remaining in the fourth quarter

The Knicks have clawed back within two, but Tyrese Maxey's speed and Joel Embiid's paint deterrence have made them uncomfortable. Now's the time for New York to make a run with Embiid on the bench.

Nobody has ever questioned Embiid's ability to impact the offense as he ages and deals with injuries. Even when it's a slog, he's at minimum a foul-drawing force.

Most questions come back to his defensive mobility. He was barely able to move by the end of last year's playoffs. But he has been more active tonight, particularly in the second half. And for good measure, he just stuffed Drummond at the rim.

Score: Sixers 88, Knicks 86 | 8:07 remaining in the fourth quarter

Nick Nurse SLOB plays >>>

Score: Sixers 83, Knicks 76 | Start of the fourth quarter

Philly finished the third quarter on an 11-0 run that was capped off by a Jaylen Brown buzzer-beater.

Anfernee Simons provided a huge lift off the bench. Tyrese Maxey is getting to pretty much any spot he wants. Philly has stamped out a lot of New York's off-ball actions and movement.

Twelve minutes are left to play.

Score: Sixers 83, Knicks 76 | End of the third quarter

Thank you for reminding that Jaylen and LeBron in Philly, Sixers Admin. We almost forgot.

Elsewhere, if either one of the Sixers or Knicks was hitting their threes, they'd be up by double-digits. Philly has regained the lead after a miniature flurry from Mr. Anfernee Simons.

Score: Sixers 80, Knicks 76 | 0:43 remaining in the third quarter

Update: It wasn't quite the Dwyane Wade. But Jaylen Brown definitely knew what he was doing.

Score: Knicks 76, Sixers 74 | 2:35 remaining in the third quarter

Did Jaylen Brown just do the Dwyane Wade?!

The Knicks' head honcho is not happy with the defense right now. He just called his second timeout in a couple-minutes span.

So much for those championship vibes.

Year 24. Age 41.

LeBron. Is. Unreal.

Putting a big on Josh Hart has worked for plenty of teams in the past. The Knicks tend to counter by using him as the screener, but the offense is all over the place right now.

Mike Brown called a timeout after Jaylen Brown got behind the defense for an easy bucket. Philly has cut the lead to two.

Score: Knicks 60, Knicks 58 | 9:46 remaining in the third quarter

Eighteen of these 28 fouls were called in the second quarter alone. It's definitely made the game feel like a slog.

Both squads continue to struggle from long distance. Philly is an ice cold 5-of-20 from beyond the arc. New York is 4-of-15.

The possession battle continues to be the difference. The Knicks are a plus-seven on the offensive glass. Turnovers are dead even at eight, but New York has doubled up the Sixers in transition 14-7.

Philly has missed seven free throws. Each of Joel Embiid's four turnovers have felt like a killer. The Sixers are shooting just 4-of-10 inside the restricted area to boot. LeBron may need to look for his shot more (2-of-5 from the floor) if Philly's rim pressure doesn't improve.

The Knicks should feel pretty good about where they sit. Andre Drummond balled out, the bench guards played hellacious defense, and Karl-Anthony Towns should be well-rested in the second half after playing just six minutes in the first two frames.

Score: Knicks 58, Sixers 54 | End of the first half

After another turnover and unnecessary foul by Joel Embiid, LeBron James is now the Sixers' center alongside VJ Edgecombe, Tyrese Maxey, Jaylen Brown and Anfernee Simons.

The offensive punch should be off the charts in these final two minutes. The defense will be...something to watch.

Score: Knicks 52, Sixers 48 | 1:27 remaining in the second quarter

In case you were wondering how Knicks fans feel about multiple reports stating LeBron initially wanted to sign with New York, well, here you go.

My not-so-hot take is that if LeBron wanted to don orange and blue for the minimum, the Knicks should have encouraged it to happen. But I get not wanting to subject this team to the scrutiny that comes with him amid a title defense (and contract-extension drama).

Philly is starting to eat into this Knicks lead and will now have an opportunity to potentially close the half without Karl-Anthony Towns or Josh Hart on the floor.

The Sixers are finally getting downhill and attacking the basket. We'll see if that holds with both LeBron and Maxey also out of the game at the moment.

Score: Knicks 50, Sixers 44 | 3:05 remaining in the second quarter

Apart from hitting this baseline jumper in Andre Drummond's grill, Joel Embiid just drilled an above-the-break three over the outstretched arms of Karl-Anthony Towns.

Philly's lack of size and interior pressure is hurting them right now. If Embiid can get it going from the perimeter, it changes things.

Related: As I wrote this, he bobbled and lost the ball on a post-up.

Philly has missed a lot of quality looks from the perimeter and is now 2-of-10 from distance, including just 1-of-7 from beyond the arc in the half-court.

If the Sixers are looking for a silver lining, the starters have outscored the Knicks while on the floor. But the team in general needs to start hitting jumpers—or at the very least manage to keep New York off the offensive glass.

Score: Knicks 38, Sixers 28 | 8:09 remaining in the second quarter

Andre Drummond leads the Knicks in rebounds. And points. And plus-minus. And...well, you get the point.

Zero lies detected from Mr. Katz.

The difference in the first quarter was Andre Drummond. He filled up the box score and grabbed three of the Knicks' eight offensive rebounds.

Both teams are shooting ghastly percentages from three. The Knicks have more true shots (29-25) and are just generally winning the possession battle thanks to their 42.1 offensive rebounding rate.

Related: This Sixers team vacillates between having faux-size on the floor and being outright tiny.

Score: Knicks 25, Sixers 23 | End of the first quarter

This is not a joke. The big fella has six points, six rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block in the opening frame.

Mitchell Robinson who, amirite?

For my money, I probably would have bet on LeBron's first Sixers basket coming as a drive. But having it come while he battles for positioning down low against the mismatch reiterates the many ways in which this offense can attack you.

Score: Sixers 20, Knicks 19 | 2:32 remaining in the first quarter

OK, now the NBA season is officially back.

Both teams are struggling from three right now. Philly's offense feels like it has more flow, but the Knicks have taken the lead on the back of...Andre Drummond.

Score: Knicks 19, Sixers 18 | 3:04 remaining in the first quarter

LeBron hasn't averaged over a possession per game as the roll man in a couple of years. This particular play didn't end in a rim-run for him, but Philly's willingness to use him as the screener for Maxey is yet another interesting wrinkle for this offense.

What a seal by Jaylen Brown.

We repeat: This Sixers offense is caps-lock DYNAMIC.

The captain has still got it.

Score: Sixers 10, Knicks 5 | 8:18 remaining in the first quarter

On the one hand, Andre Drummond is now more important for the rest of the first quarter and likely the first half.

On the other hand, between KAT getting in early foul trouble and Mikal Bridges pulling up instead of going all the way to the rim, NBA basketball really is back!

Oh, hey, there's actual basketball to be played.

This Sixers offense is going to be downright dangerous. They're already toggling between warp speed and dissecting matchups in the half-court.

Score: Sixers 8, Knicks 5 | 8:46 remaining in the first quarter

Can't tell Knicks fans nothing right now. Don't blame them, either.

LeBron getting louder jeers than Embiid, however, was not on my opening-night bingo card.

And to think, this hasn't happened in 53 years.

It seems like Knicks fans really appreciate Jalen Brunson, huh?

What an ovation!

Tough indeed.

What a live shot. The center logo reflection off the Larry O'Brien Trophy is perfect.

Again, though, we must ask: Who's wearing these massive rings? And will they allow you to morph into a Power Ranger if you do?

These have to be the biggest championship rings of all time...right?

Anybody else got chills? Or a sudden urge to watch Severance?

Condolences to anyone who was hoping Tyler Nickel would start over Jalen Brunson.

Looking at the Sixers' starting 5 won't always feel like a shock to the system. We're not there yet.

Philly's quintet only appeared together in one preseason game against the Brooklyn Nets. But LeBron James, Tyrese Maxey, Jaylen Brown and Joel Embiid all played together in the preseason finale against the Boston Celtics.

The early returns are choppy. But the aforementioned four started to find a groove versus Boston, toggling between uptempo blitzing and half-court dissection. The results of this science experiment are going to be riveting no matter what.

Head coach Mike Brown offered more insight into why the Knicks hung this banner after initially saying they wouldn't:

Let's normalize celebrating achievements and turning points. Anyone who is against this decision is a certified Fun Hater™.