The 76ers beat the Knicks 106-100 at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night, the first game for LeBron James and Jaylen Brown in Philadelphia colors. New York had hung its championship banner and handed out rings before tip-off. ESPN reported that Philadelphia "sent an opening-night message" that it will be a contender for the Knicks' title. The AP said the Sixers rallied to win. The box score backs that up: the game was tied at the half after 25-23 and 33-31 quarters, and Philadelphia pulled away by outscoring New York 29-18 in the third.

Tyrese Maxey led all scorers with 28 points on 9-of-19 shooting, including 8-of-9 at the line, and had 5 assists and 3 steals in 40 minutes. Brown had 19 points on 7-of-14 shooting, with 8 rebounds and 6 assists. He was a team-best +17 in 35 minutes. James played the first game of what ESPN calls an NBA-record 24th season and finished with 14 points on 5-of-13 shooting, 9 rebounds and 7 assists in 34 minutes. Joel Embiid had 13 points and 11 rebounds on 4-of-15 shooting, with 3 blocks.

Sportsnet's video recap says James scored his first basket as a Sixer on a lay-in down low. It describes a brief shoving match on the next possession, as tempers flared. The box score records one technical foul, on Philadelphia, and none on New York. The detail comes from Sportsnet's clip alone; the other summaries we have don't mention the scuffle.

The Knicks lost despite winning the rebounding battle 53-45 and grabbing 14 offensive boards to Philadelphia's 6. Andre Drummond had 14 rebounds, 7 of them offensive, and Karl-Anthony Towns had 19 points and 12 rebounds in 24 minutes. Jalen Brunson scored 21 but shot 6-of-19 from the field. The Knicks shot 37% overall, against 42% for the Sixers. OG Anunoby went 3-of-12 and was -20 in 32 minutes, and Mikal Bridges had 4 points on 2-of-8. Philadelphia had 28 assists to New York's 21, 24 fast-break points to 16, and committed fewer turnovers, 12 to 15 by the box score's total. The announced crowd was 19,812.

The result puts Philadelphia at 1-0 and first in the Atlantic. It comes after two losses to Boston, 144-106 on Oct. 10 and 125-120 on Oct. 16. Pregame reporting from Posting and Toasting said no Knicks stars were on the injury report, while the Sixers listed several players out or questionable. That site's summary was cut off before it named them, and no outlet we have says whether any of them missed this game. One scheduling note: Liberty Ballers' thread lists the game as Monday, Oct. 20. Every other outlet, and the archive, has it on Tuesday.

Philadelphia is home on Thursday against Cleveland. New York next plays at Boston on Friday, Oct. 23.