Knicks fall 98-93 at Philadelphia as Maxey and LeBron James lift 76ers in NBA Cup game
Tyrese Maxey and LeBron James led Philadelphia past the Knicks 98-93, ending New York's two-game win streak and dropping it to 2-4.
The New York Knicks' short run of good form ended in Philadelphia, where Tyrese Maxey and LeBron James carried the 76ers to a 98-93 win in an NBA Cup game. ESPN's highlights of the game show the Sixers' two lead guards making the difference late in a close finish.
The loss drops the Knicks to 2-4 and stops a two-game winning streak that had looked like the start of a turnaround. It is also New York's second loss to Philadelphia already this season. The 76ers won the season opener at Madison Square Garden 106-100, so they have now beaten the Knicks at home and on the road, and both games were decided by six points or fewer.
The defense held up, and the offense did not. The 98 points New York allowed are the second-fewest it has given up this season, behind only the 97 it allowed to Detroit. But its 93 points are a season low. The Knicks had scored at least 100 in each of their first five games, including 133 in a win at Chicago two nights earlier, so the drop of 40 points from one game to the next is the story of the night.
What it means for Monday against Brooklyn
The Knicks' numbers say they are closer to .500 than the record does. Through six games they have scored 642 points and allowed 646, a margin of minus-4. Three of their four losses have come by six points or fewer: 106-100 to Philadelphia, 107-103 at Boston and now 98-93 at Philadelphia. The only loss that wasn't close was a 111-102 home defeat to Orlando. A team that loses that many close games early can expect some of them to go the other way, but the 2-4 record stands either way.
The split is even. New York is 1-2 at home and 1-2 on the road. Both wins came in a row, 111-97 over Detroit and 133-127 at Chicago, and the offense averaged 122 points across those two games. In the four losses it has averaged 99.5. Whether this team wins has mostly depended on whether it scores, so the offense is the thing to watch against Brooklyn.
The Knicks return to the Garden on Monday, November 2, to face the Nets. The game airs on YES, with NBA League Pass and DAZN also carrying it. A win would bring New York back to 3-4 before the schedule moves on. A loss would mean a third defeat in the first four home games, at a time when the early-season standings are starting to take shape.
The matchup with Philadelphia also leaves a mark that will last. The Sixers now hold an early edge in the season series, and with two Atlantic Division losses already on the record, games against teams like Brooklyn carry extra weight for a club trying to climb back to even.
