[Skip to main content](#content)
The Knicks got their rings, but the Sixers’ star-studded starting five took home the win.
Oct 21, 2026, 2:01 AM UTC
NEW YORK — The defense comes through in the end, just like we all expected.
The Sixers opened the 2026-27 season with a nail-biting 106-100 victory over the defending champion New York Knicks Tuesday night.
Tyrese Maxey had a great night leading the Sixers with 28 points, shooting 9-of-19 from the floor with five assists and three steals. Jaylen Brown seemed to get more comfortable as the game went on, finishing with 19 points, eight rebounds, six assists and one big block on Jalen Brunson to end the game..
LeBron James, also making his Sixers debut, had 14 shooting 5-of-13 along with nine rebounds and seven assists. Joel Embiid struggled offensively in the second half but made some big plays defensively, finishing with 13 points on 15 shots with 11 rebounds, six assists and three blocks.
Here are some thoughts at the buzzer.
* The first possession of the season saw an Embiid post-up get swung around to Maxey for a three on the opposite side of the floor. Hopefully there will be a lot of that this season. Embiid was stripped by Towns shortly after, but Maxey stole the loose ball back and buried another three for a quick 6-0 start. New York missed their first four shots of the game before a putback from Bridges and a Brunson three trickled in. The Sixers were also able to send KAT to the bench with two fouls, quickly bringing Andre Drummond into the game. Drum finally got Embiid back, blocking one of his old teammate’s pull-up jumpers.
* The first bucket for the new guys was Brown cutting to the basket, with LeBron hitting him with a nice bounce pass for the layup. Shortly after, Brown blocked an OG Anunoby three, though it a took a challenge to overturn it from a foul call.
* The initial stagger ended being different than the preseason. The first two Sixers subs of the night were Anfernee Simons and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope checking in for Maxey and Brown. The Sixers were generating open threes, but the first two Maxey hit to start the game remained their only shots from deep that had fallen. Drummond continued to put in a solid shift against Embiid as a couple offensive rebounds helped the Knicks offense get going. Embiid continued to make enemies in this building as Landry Shamet started jawing at him in between plays.
* Simons hit a couple pull-up jumpers as the Sixers’ offense fell into a rut, something that could become a theme, especially from behind the arc. Brown missed a pull-up, turned the ball over, and split a pair of free throws across a three-possession stretch. A layup from Brunson put the Knicks up by two to close the first.
* LeBron had a layup just rim out, and Adem Bona slightly mistimed the jump for the putback. As Drummond pulled down his fourth offensive rebound of the game, Nick Nurse opted to go with Jabari Walker at the five. Walker made a nice find to Maxey, but defensively the unit was struggling to get stops.
* Drummond was playing so well the arena had begun to randomly chant his name. That being said, he got away with one of the most egregious goaltends that left both Maxey and Walker stunned at the no-call. It’s fitting that the two guys lighting up the NBA world on opening day were Drummond and Paul George.
* The return of Embiid to court helped them stop an 11-2 Knicks run. He and Maxey each hit a midrange before he hit a three from the top of the key. Towns returned to the game as well and punished the Sixers’ defense off the dribble. It didn’t help that the Sixers still struggled to buy a three on their end. They swung to a wide open KCP who had the ball go all the way down and rim out.
* Easily the best thing to come out of the first half was how Embiid was moving. He was able to get back and swallow up multiple shots and passes at the rim. He checked out with two minutes in the half a +4, giving us our first look at small-ball five LeBron minutes. James got tied up by Miles McBride for a jump ball, but won it and knocked down a midrange jumper. Offensively they made some good reads to find open layups, a lot came as a result of picking on Brunson.
* On the other end though, they couldn’t keep Brunson off the foul line, including a defensive three second violation with 11 seconds left in the half. The Sixers were at least able to get a stop on the ensuing possession, keeping themselves to within four at the break.
* LeBron with a steal and fired it up the court to Maxey for the fast break layup. He made a good read from the middle of the paint to find Maxey open in the corner for three, but the Sixers continued to miss those good looks. Brown was finally able to get downhill and behind the defense for a dunk, but Josh Hart drilled a three coming out of a timeout before Maxey and VJ Edgecombe both missed another open corner triple.
* Nick Nurse switched LeBron onto KAT to start the second half and that did junk up the Knicks’ offense to start the third. With Embiid roaming the Knicks found themselves taking shots not far from the rim, but with multiple defenders contesting it hard. The Sixers used that time to get out in transition and go on a 6-0 run to briefly retake the lead, but a Josh Hart three took it right back.
* Simons drilled his first three of the night and the team’s first of the second half, making the team just 4-of-21 from beyond the arc on the night. The offense got stuck in its tracks again, but just before he got doubled, Brown was able to find Simons again, who drilled another one with the hand in his face.
* Maxey, who was easily the best Sixer on the floor all night, made a spectacular finish to pull the Sixers within two. The Sixers continued to actually make three-pointers, which allowed them retake the lead once again. Simons drilled another one and Brown got left so alone in the corner he took his sweet time to sink one. After both teams had ugly possessions, the Sixers got one last chance with 1.5 seconds left. Brown got open again and buried the three at the buzzer off a great LeBron pass.
* Embiid and LeBron returned to the game to start the fourth, but LeBron quickly picked up his fourth foul of the night, inviting more caution for him. Maxey was rewarded for his downhill aggression, drawing fouls on two straight possessions including an and-1 floater over Anunoby. The Knicks contested a LeBron shot pretty well and turned Maxey over, leading to a pair of threes to cut the lead to two and force a Sixers timeout.
* Maxey got to the line again out of the timeout and KCP hit a pair of threes to stop the bleeding. Bona was having a rough night. He made some nice stands during this stretch but the team wasn’t able to close those possessions with rebounds and the Knicks again made them pay with second-chance points.
* Embiid made some big blocks, but had been scoreless for much of the second half. The Sixers were teetering after coming up empty on their previous possession despite two offensive rebounds of their own. As the ball was swung around, Embiid was left open on the three-point line and drilled it, extending the lead to four and prompting a timeout from Mike Brown. Brunson got a good shot over Edgecombe coming out of the timeout but it rimmed out. Embiid made a nice high-low pass to Edgecombe who drew a foul coming back down the floor, but he was only able to split the pair.
* KAT drilled a high arching three with a hand in his face to cut it right back down to two. The Sixers once again leveraged the double on Maxey, dropping it to Embiid, then Edgecombe on the block who this time finished the layup. Maxey picked off the following Knicks pass to push it back up to six with just under two minutes remaining.
* Bridges got open for a layup coming out of the timeout but LeBron was able to get all the way over to get a hand on it. Once again Maxey’s attention got a Sixer open under the basket, but LeBron somehow wedgied the layup. The Sixers won the jump ball, but Brown turned it over with 49 seconds left.
* Brunson was able to beat Maxey off the drive, prompting another timeout from Nurse with 41 seconds to go. The Sixers ran a really uninspired possession that led to a horrible Embiid three, but they were able to force a miss on the other end thanks to Brown blocking Brunson’s three. LeBron got the rebound and was fouled with 7 seconds left, finally putting this one away.
All of your communities in one place.