Fifty-three years of waiting, and the banner finally went up. Confetti fell at Madison Square Garden, the championship flag climbed into the rafters, and Jalen Brunson told the crowd the city deserved to feel that joy again. Then LeBron James ruined the after-party.
The Philadelphia 76ers spoiled the New York Knicks’ banner night on Tuesday, walking out of Madison Square Garden with a 106-100 win, and they did it with the 41-year-old making his debut for his fourth NBA franchise. Opening night of the 2026-27 season was supposed to be a celebration of last June. Instead, it was a statement by the team most people picked as the biggest threat to a repeat.
Here is how the night that had everything went down: a banner 53 years in the making, a superstar debut that drew a hostile crowd, and a finish that suggests the Eastern Conference is about to be a war.
The banner finally goes up
There is no way to overstate what this night meant in New York. The Knicks had not raised a championship banner since 1973. They beat the San Antonio Spurs in five games last June for their first title in 53 years, and on Tuesday the franchise made it official at Madison Square Garden.
The ceremony had all the touches. The starters were introduced last, one by one: Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, and finally Brunson, the Finals MVP who carried the city on his back through last spring. Brunson addressed the crowd before tip, and his message was simple. The joy New York felt this summer was real, and the team wanted to run it back.
“We’re excited to get this season going,” Brunson said. “We’re ready to turn the page as a team. But one thing I wanted to say, the joy that the city had this summer, we would love to replicate that again.”
One of the more human moments came from Ariel Hukporti, who joined the 76ers in the offseason but tore his Achilles in the preseason opener. He was in the building anyway, scooting across the court with his foot in a cast to be part of the night, according to the New York Post.
Then the ball went up, and the celebration turned into a game.
LeBron’s Philadelphia era opens with a win
Let that sink in for a second: LeBron James, 41 years old, starting a record 24th NBA season. No player in league history has ever reached 24 seasons. He entered the night as the league’s all-time leading scorer with 1,622 games already behind him, and he is now wearing his fourth uniform after Cleveland, Miami, and the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Garden crowd gave him exactly the reception you would expect for a superstar joining a division rival. Knicks fans chanted “We don’t want you” at him during the game. The hostility was not random. LeBron had been linked to the Knicks for two decades, and this summer’s decision was effectively the city finding out it was never getting him. He had acknowledged he did not want to join the Knicks after they won the championship, and the franchise that beat him to a title proved it never needed him.
His first official bucket as a Sixer was pure LeBron: he sealed Landry Shamet underneath the basket, took a pinpoint pass from Joel Embiid, and scored with the kind of bully ball that has worked for two-plus decades, as ClutchPoints captured. He finished with 14 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists in 33 minutes, playing the floor-general role Philly signed him for rather than dominating the ball.
At halftime he had 5 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists, quiet by his standards. But this is the lowest-usage version of James we have ever seen, and that is the point. With Tyrese Maxey, Embiid, and offseason acquisition Jaylen Brown around him, he does not have to create everything. He gets to pick his spots and quarterback the rest.
The NBA is marking the milestone all season: James will wear a special-edition jersey patch commemorating his 24th season, removed after each game, with selected examples going into exclusive Topps trading cards.
How the game was won
For the first half, it looked like the Knicks might enjoy their night. They led 58-54 at the break, playing the kind of connected basketball that won them a title. Brunson had the offense humming, Towns was efficient inside, and the Garden was still buzzing from the ceremony.
The third quarter changed everything. Philadelphia outscored New York 29-18, and the lead flipped when James drove for a layup to make it 64-63, the Sixers’ first advantage since the opening period. The Knicks never quite recovered their rhythm after that.
The period ended with a dagger sequence: Anfernee Simons drilled a three, and then Jaylen Brown nailed his own shot from deep at the buzzer. Two newcomers, one devastating closing punch.
The fourth quarter was a grind. With the Sixers nursing a 100-98 lead under three minutes to play, the game tilted for good on a sequence that will live on highlight reels: OG Anunoby turned it over on a bad pass, Maxey stole it, and VJ Edgecombe threw down a dunk. Maxey followed with a running dunk of his own, and after Brunson’s driving layup trimmed it to 104-100 with 41 seconds left, Philadelphia closed it out 106-100.
Maxey was the star of the night: 28 points on 9-of-19 shooting with 5 assists, 3 steals, and 3 blocks in 39 minutes. Brown backed him with 19 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists. Embiid added 13 points, 11 boards, and 3 blocks. Simons chipped in 13 off the bench.
For New York, Brunson led with 21 points but needed 19 shots to get there. Towns was excellent (19 points on 6-of-8, 11 rebounds), Hart added 14, and Andre Drummond gave them 12 points and 14 boards. It was not a disastrous performance. It just was not a championship one, and that is the problem when you raise a banner: the standard is now the standard.
The rest of opening night
Tuesday was a tripleheader on NBC and Peacock, and the other games delivered their own drama:
- Pistons 121, Celtics 113. Detroit came back from 22 points down to stun Boston. Duncan Robinson poured in 21 points, and Javonte Green scored 19 in the second half. The Pistons are coming off a 60-win season, while the Celtics debuted the pairing of Jayson Tatum and Paul George. That result is a loud opening statement from Detroit.
- Thunder at Spurs, 9:30 p.m. ET. The nightcap was a rematch of last spring’s Western Conference Finals, which San Antonio won in Game 7 before losing to the Knicks in the Finals. Expect bad blood.
- Elsewhere around the league: Cason Wallace agreed to a five-year, $139 million extension with Oklahoma City. Steph Curry is set to play the Lakers’ season opener against Golden State on Thursday after an ankle scare. And Adam Silver told The Pat McAfee Show that LeBron’s helicopter commute, supplied through his Fanatics deal, is “perfectly appropriate” as long as no team is involved. Only in the modern NBA.
What this actually means
One game does not decide a season, and the Knicks will rightly say that banner night comes with distractions no other game has. But context matters. Last June, New York swept these same 76ers 4-0 in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Philadelphia’s answer was to add two stars, LeBron James and Jaylen Brown, and on opening night the new-look Sixers walked into the Garden and took the rematch.
The East is going to be brutal. Miami strengthened by acquiring Giannis Antetokounmpo this summer. Detroit just won 60 games and is beating contenders from 22 down. Boston still has its core plus Paul George. And the defending champs now have to prove the title was the start of something, not the finish.
For the repeat bid, the historical bar is clear: no team has gone back-to-back since the Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018. The Knicks have the continuity, with Mike Brown returning the championship core intact, but Tuesday was a reminder that everyone else spent the summer loading up.
The rematch is already circled. These teams meet again Friday, October 30 in Philadelphia. If opening night was any indication, that one will not lack for drama either.
For more on the season’s biggest storylines, see our coverage of Tank Dell’s return for the Texans and Monday night’s 49ers win over the Commanders, or browse the US Sports archive.
