LeBron James and his new Philadelphia 76ers teammates crashed the New York Knicks’ season-opening celebrations, beating the defending NBA champions 106-100 on the night they raised their title banner at Madison Square Garden.
James, 41 and entering a record-extending 24th NBA season with his fourth team, scored 14 points and handed out seven of the 76ers’ 28 assists on Tuesday.
It was a tantalising glimpse of how he will be a facilitator for younger teammates like Tyrese Maxey – who led all scorers with 28 points.
“I could be a lot better,” James told a United States broadcaster NBC. “Still getting my rhythm, obviously just a little bit over two weeks with the new squad.
“But I like the way we played. I think we played exceptionally well, especially defensively.”
Jaylen Brown, the former Boston Celtics star who arrived in Philly in a stunning trade for Paul George in July, scored 19 points with eight rebounds and six assists and centre Joel Embiid added 13 points and 11 rebounds for the 76ers.
Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 21 points and Karl-Anthony Towns scored 19 points with 12 rebounds, but after regaining the lead in the third quarter, the 76ers repelled every Knicks charge.
The Knicks ended a 53-year title drought with their victory over the San Antonio Spurs in last season’s NBA Finals.
Knicks legends including Bill Bradley, Earl Monroe and Walt Frazier handed out the Knicks’ championship rings in an emotional pre-game ceremony at the Garden, where the crowd featured die-hard celebrity Knicks fans like Ben Stiller and Spike Lee, along with other famous faces including rocker Jon Bon Jovi and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
Before the club’s third championship banner was raised to the rafters, NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Brunson told fans the Knicks were “ready to turn the page as a team”.
“But one thing I would like to say – the joy that this city had this summer we’d love to replicate that again,” Brunson said of a Knicks team aiming to be the first repeat champions since 2018.
James, a four-time NBA champion and the league’s all-time leading scorer, admitted that winning on another team’s ring ceremony night was especially satisfying.
“It’s pretty special,” he said.
In the nightcap of the opening day triple-header, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 32 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder rode a hot start to a 116-104 victory over Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs.
Wembanyama, widely tipped to end Gilgeous-Alexander’s two-year Most Valuable Player reign, made just one basket in 13 attempts, an alley-oop dunk to end the third quarter.
He made his presence felt with 13 rebounds and six blocked shots and scored 12 points, largely thanks to 10 free throws.
But the Spurs, led by 24 points from Stephon Castle, ultimately had no answer for an OKC outfit “hungry” after their title defence ended in a seven-game loss to San Antonio in last season’s Western Conference finals.
“Obviously this is the team that eliminated us from achieving our goal,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “But for us, I think it was more like we’re just happy to be back. It’s a longer summer when you don’t win, and we felt that this summer.”
There was plenty of tension between the young teams tipped to duel for supremacy in the West for years to come.
Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox was whistled for a flagrant foul after throwing Thunder centre Chet Holmgren to the court early in the second quarter, prompting a shoving match that resulted in multiple technical fouls.
The Spurs made a disciplined start to the third quarter and twice got the deficit to seven in the second half, only for the Thunder to pull away again.
The NBA’s 81st season tipped off in Detroit, where the Pistons used a fierce second-half fightback to spoil George’s 38-point Celtics debut in a duel of last season’s top two regular-season teams.
Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren scored 22 points each, and Duncan Robinson scored 15 of his 21 in the fourth quarter as the Pistons rallied for a 121-113 victory with the aid of a 23-0 scoring run.
