The Philadelphia 76ers beat the New York Knicks 98-93 on Friday night, October 30, 2026, in a tense NBA Cup opener at Xfinity Mobile Arena, and the finish belonged to LeBron James. The 41-year-old scored the go-ahead basket in the final two minutes, then tipped in a missed shot with 11.9 seconds left to turn a one-possession game into a two-possession game, as Philadelphia improved to 5-1 and handed the defending NBA champions their second defeat to the 76ers in six games. Tyrese Maxey led all scorers with 27 points, James finished with 20 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, and the 76ers survived a late New York rally that briefly put the Knicks in front with 92 seconds remaining.
It was the second time already this season that Philadelphia has beaten New York, after spoiling the Knicks' championship banner-raising night at Madison Square Garden on opening night. It was also a statement in the fourth edition of the NBA Cup, the league's in-season tournament, where group-stage games count in the regular-season standings and every early result shapes the road to the knockout rounds in December.
Philadelphia took control early and never fully let go, even when New York kept clawing back. The 76ers shot 55 percent from the field in the first quarter and again in the second, building a 29-21 lead after one and a 53-44 advantage at halftime. Maxey had 18 points by the break on 8-of-12 shooting, and the home crowd at Xfinity Mobile Arena had a cushion to enjoy.
The third quarter tested that cushion. Maxey scored five quick points to open the half and push the lead to 14, but Brunson answered with seven points in a 43-second burst during a 10-1 New York run that cut the gap to 59-54. Simons then steadied Philadelphia in the final five and a half minutes of the period, hitting three three-pointers, two free throws and a tough fadeaway to carry the 76ers into the fourth with a 77-68 lead. Both teams scored 24 points in the third, and the game stayed within reach.
The fourth quarter was a slow burn to a frantic finish. Brunson, who scored 13 points in the third, kept New York close, and his step-back three-pointer with 1:32 remaining gave the Knicks a 90-89 lead, their moment of maximum belief on the night. James answered with a basket about 20 seconds later to put Philadelphia back in front. After a Brunson miss, Edgecombe beat the shot-clock buzzer with a three-pointer that made it 94-90. Brunson split two free throws to keep it a one-possession game, but James was waiting under the basket when Maxey's next shot missed wide left: he snatched the rebound and laid it in for a 96-91 lead with 11.9 seconds to go. OG Anunoby's dunk with 8.4 seconds left cut it to three, and Maxey's two free throws closed out the 98-93 win.
The box score told the story of a team win. Maxey played 37 minutes and 37 seconds, finishing 10-of-19 from the field, 3-of-8 from three and 4-of-7 from the line, with four rebounds, four assists, a steal and a block. James played 34 minutes and 15 seconds, shooting 8-of-15, including 2-of-6 from three, with nine rebounds, eight assists, a steal and a block. Simons needed only 31 minutes and 29 seconds for his 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Edgecombe added 13 points and eight rebounds, and Joel Embiid contributed 10 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. For New York, Brunson shot 8-of-22 with five rebounds and six assists, and Towns paired his 22 points with 12 rebounds. Philadelphia finished 12-of-34 from three-point range; New York was 13-of-41.
This was not a routine early-season meeting. The Knicks entered the night as the defending NBA champions and the defending NBA Cup champions, having won last season's Cup before beating the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals for their first championship since 1973. Friday's games marked the start of the fourth edition of the NBA Cup, with group-stage games played through November, quarterfinals on December 4-5, semifinals on December 8-9 and the final on December 11 at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. Philadelphia and New York were drawn together in East Group B, so the opener carried both regular-season and tournament weight.
The recent history between the clubs added spice. Philadelphia had already beaten New York on opening night at Madison Square Garden, spoiling the banner-raising celebration. Friday made it two wins in two meetings this season, and it pushed the 76ers to 5-1, with their only loss so far, while the Knicks slipped to 2-4, with four of their first six games ending in defeat, including both against Philadelphia. The Knicks had opened the season with three consecutive losses before steadying slightly, and they arrived in Philadelphia as 3.5-point underdogs despite their championship pedigree.
James's own story framed the night. The NBA's all-time leading scorer, born December 30, 1984, joined Philadelphia as a free agent in July, and at 41 he is still chasing moments like this one. Friday was described as his best performance in a 76ers jersey so far, and it came two nights after a very different highlight: in Wednesday's 114-109 win over the Indiana Pacers, Indiana two-way forward Jalen Slawson caught James from behind on a transition layup, and the Pacers successfully challenged the original foul call. On Friday, the roles reversed.
The play that set social media alight came in the third quarter, when James chased down Knicks forward OG Anunoby and blocked his shot off the backboard. The crowd rose, the clip spread within minutes, and the debate followed just as fast: some viewers argued the play met the NBA's definition of goaltending, touching a shot on its downward flight when it had a chance to score, while others celebrated it as vintage LeBron. The officials allowed it, and it stood as James's only block of the game.
The reaction captured why the moment travelled so far. Commentators called it vintage LeBron, and one noted that James, at 41, was still smashing chase-down blocks against backboards. It was the kind of play that has defined his career: a defensive sprint that looks impossible until it happens, delivered in a game his team needed to win. That it came in the same game as his late scoring burst only strengthened the story, because Friday was not a nostalgia act. It was a 20-point, nine-rebound, eight-assist night that decided a Cup opener against the champions.
Maxey's hot start deserves equal billing. His lowest-scoring game of the young season so far was 26 points against the Milwaukee Bucks, and he has now led Philadelphia in scoring again, this time with 27. His 18 first-half points set the tone, his five quick points to open the third rebuilt the lead, and even his late miss mattered, because James was in position to tip it home. The partnership between the veteran and the young guard is becoming the defining feature of this 76ers team, and Friday showed why: when the game tightened, both of them had an answer.
James was asked after the win about playing alongside Maxey, and he did not hold back about his new teammate. "It's been great. Obviously ultra energy, ultra respect. He gets the respect from his peers, respect from his teammates, and for me as the elder statesmen, I just try to give him all the gem and the knowledge to continue to improve his game each and every day," James said postgame. "I mean he's already damn good, but I think he wants to be legendary so hopefully I can pass something down to him."
James then explained what first convinced him about Maxey, reaching back to their shared summers in the gym. "I can talk about how good he is and how great he will be on the simple fact that he's never been late for a workout," James said. "We worked out for six straight summers and he's never been late. And he actually tried to beat me to a couple of workouts in which he was successful... and then I started showing up a lot earlier and he said you got it from there... but that's when I knew he was going to be successful."
The coaching verdict matched the numbers. Coach Nick Nurse called Friday's performance James's best game since joining Philadelphia as a free agent in July, a judgement the box score supports: 20 points on efficient shooting, nine rebounds, eight assists and the game's most memorable defensive play. For New York, there was no single postgame quote that softened the result. The Knicks had fought back from 14 down, taken the lead with 92 seconds left, and still left Philadelphia empty-handed, beaten twice already this season by the same opponent.
Early-season games are often dismissed, but this one carried real weight for both teams. For Philadelphia, beating the champions twice in six games is not a fluke, it is a pattern, and it arrives with a 5-1 record that puts the 76ers among the early pacesetters in the East. The win also came without Jaylen Brown, which makes the bench contribution from Simons and the all-round game from Embiid more significant: this team is finding ways to win when it is short-handed, and its closing lineup, built around Maxey and James, has now delivered under pressure twice against the same opponent.
For New York, the concern is not one loss but the shape of the start. The defending champions are 2-4, winless in Cup play, and have now lost twice to Philadelphia, including a game they led with 92 seconds remaining. Championship teams are judged on how they respond to nights like this, and the Knicks' response will need to be quick: the Cup group stage leaves little room for a slow start, and every group defeat makes the December knockout rounds harder to reach. Towns's double-double and Brunson's late scoring show the talent is there; the closing execution, twice now against Philadelphia, is the question.
The wider NBA Cup picture matters too. Group games count in the regular-season standings, so Friday's result helps Philadelphia twice, in the East standings and in East Group B, while New York must now chase the group. The tournament was designed to give November and December games extra stakes, and this opener delivered exactly that: a late lead change, a highlight block, a coach's endorsement of a 41-year-old star, and a finish decided in the final 12 seconds.
Philadelphia does not get long to celebrate. The 76ers wrap up a back-to-back on Saturday night, October 31, visiting the Charlotte Hornets at 6 p.m. ET, a quick turnaround after a physical, emotional win. Their second NBA Cup game follows next Friday against the Cleveland Cavaliers, another early test of where this team stands. The immediate questions are about health and rotation: whether Brown returns from left patellar tendinopathy, and whether Simons can sustain this level of bench scoring when the minutes grow.
New York, meanwhile, must regroup and find its closing form. The Knicks have the talent to defend both titles, but they have now shown Philadelphia a route to beating them: survive the early runs, stay within reach through Brunson and Towns, and then find a way to finish. Friday showed they can do the first two parts. The third part, the final two minutes, is where this game was lost, and it is where their season will be judged if the pattern continues. The rematches later in the group stage and the regular season will carry that history with them.
For the neutral, Friday was a reminder of why the NBA Cup was created. A Friday night in late October, two Eastern Conference rivals, a 41-year-old legend producing a chase-down block and a game-winning tip-in, and a young star scoring 27 to lead his team: that is the kind of night that makes an in-season tournament feel like it matters, long before December arrives.
What was the final score of 76ers vs Knicks on October 30, 2026? Philadelphia won 98-93 at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia, in both teams' Emirates NBA Cup group-stage opener. The quarter scores were 29-21, 24-23, 24-24 and 21-25 in Philadelphia's favour across the four periods.
How many points did LeBron James score against the Knicks? James scored 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting, with nine rebounds, eight assists, one steal and one block in 34 minutes and 15 seconds. He scored the go-ahead basket with about 1:10 left and tipped in a Maxey miss with 11.9 seconds remaining.
How many points did Tyrese Maxey score? Maxey led all scorers with 27 points on 10-of-19 shooting, adding four rebounds and four assists. He had 18 points at halftime and has now scored at least 26 points in every game so far this season, with 26 against Milwaukee his previous low.
What is the NBA Cup and why did this game count? The NBA Cup is the league's in-season tournament, now in its fourth edition. Group-stage games count in the regular-season standings, and the group winners and wild cards advance to quarterfinals on December 4-5, semifinals on December 8-9 and the final on December 11 at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Who do the 76ers play next? Philadelphia visits the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday, October 31, at 6 p.m. ET to complete a back-to-back. The 76ers' second NBA Cup game is next Friday against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Related coverage on US News Pulse: Giannis triple-double powers Heat past Pacers in NBA Cup opener, Thunder beat Suns as Mitchell's career-high keeps OKC perfect, and Stephen Curry perfect night powers Warriors past Nuggets.
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