James, Maxey lead 76ers past champion Knicks as NBA Cup opens

LOS ANGELES: LeBron James scored 20 points, including a late tip-in that helped seal the Philadelphia 76ers’ 98-93 win over NBA champions the New York Knicks on Friday.

It was the 76ers’ second win over the Knicks this season, after they spoiled New York’s championship banner-raising with a victory at Madison Square Garden on opening night.

The win had added significance as Friday’s games opened the fourth edition of the NBA Cup, the league’s in-season tournament. The Knicks won it last season before beating the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals for their first championship since 1973.

Group-stage Cup games will be played throughout November and count in the regular-season standings. The quarterfinals are on December 4-5 and the semifinals on December 8-9, with the final on December 11 at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Tyrese Maxey scored 27 points to lead the Sixers, who took control early against a sloppy Knicks side. They led by 14 in the third quarter and held off a late New York surge.

Jalen Brunson’s step-back three-pointer put New York ahead 90-89 with 1:32 left. James, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, answered with a basket that put Philadelphia back in front. He then pushed the lead to 96-91 with a tip-in off a Maxey miss with 11.9 seconds remaining.

James, 41, added nine rebounds, eight assists, a steal and a chase-down block. 76ers coach Nick Nurse called it his best game since he joined as a free agent in June.

“I thought he was really good all the way through,” Nurse said. “When we got some downhill stuff he used his size and knocked them around a little bit for some layups... kind of pushed and organized it. He’s been good, but that was his best game, for sure.”

Brunson led New York with 24 points, and Karl-Anthony Towns added 22 points and 12 rebounds for the Knicks, who fell to 2-4.

The Dallas Mavericks, led by 35 points from Kyrie Irving and 33 from Cooper Flagg, rallied to hand the Houston Rockets their first defeat of the season, 116-111. The Rockets led 51-44 at halftime, stretched the lead to as many as 11 and took an eight-point advantage into the fourth quarter.

Irving’s three-pointer with 7:01 left put Dallas back in front, and they did not trail again, answering twice when Houston drew level late on.

“It felt good,” Irving said. “We came in at halftime, we weren’t proud of our effort. We looked each other in the eye and we were just like, we’ve got to do better. We didn’t bring it in the first half, but the second half we definitely brought it.”

Curry climbs scoring list

Stephen Curry scored 31 points as the Golden State Warriors beat the Los Angeles Lakers 112-95 in a game of big swings in San Francisco. The Lakers outscored the Warriors 38-15 in the first quarter, but Golden State wiped out the 23-point deficit with a 38-15 second quarter to tie the game 53-53 at halftime.

Luka Doncic scored 37 points for the Lakers. Curry took his career total to 26,674 points, passing Dominique Wilkins (26,668) for 18th on the all-time scoring list.

In Miami, Giannis Antetokounmpo had a triple-double of 31 points, 18 rebounds and 10 assists as the Heat beat the Indiana Pacers 145-125.

In Boston, Payton Pritchard scored 30 points off the bench and Jayson Tatum added 26 as the Celtics beat the Chicago Bulls 125-111 after leading by as many as 32.

The Orlando Magic hit 18 three-pointers and beat the Toronto Raptors despite a career-high 41 points from Scottie Barnes.

The Detroit Pistons recovered from a slow start to beat the winless Brooklyn Nets 110-94, handing them a fifth straight defeat. Cade Cunningham scored 20 points and Ron Holland added 18 off the bench. — AFP