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It was one of the first issues that Mike Brown mentioned. He had plenty to dissect after a 98-93 loss to the 76ers in Philadelphia, but the head coach was frustrated by the Knicks allowing 26 points in the paint during the first half of their loss — and brought it up, along with turnovers, to reporters following the game. The Knicks, by comparison, managed just 14. And while they responded in the second half and limited the 76ers to just 10 points in the paint across the final 24 minutes, their early lapses contributed to an early deficit that haunted them throughout their loss to open NBA Cup play. “They were getting in our paint left and right, right and left, and it was really, really easy doing it,” Brown said. “… If it’s a post-up game or something like that, OK, maybe, I don’t know. But to continue to have that ball driven in the paint, especially in the first half when they shot 5 of 17 or whatever it is from the 3-point line, was not good.”
“I wasn’t that excited about it,” Kyrie Irving admitted Friday. Three years later, Irving said he has gotten more comfortable with the idea of the NBA handing out a trophy prior to Christmas and sees value in gunning to win the NBA Cup. “I think I understand the concept of it now and what it means for the fandom of basketball,” Irving said. “And just getting your legs up underneath you. … The Knicks and the Spurs last year, we saw them in the Finals. I think there is some correlation to playing well early in the season and that leading to success later on down the line.”
In all three seasons of the NBA Cup's existence, the Sixers have failed to advance past Group Play and into the Knockout Rounds. Nurse, a veteran of many similar tournaments overseas in his coaching career, would like to capitalize on this opportunity – though he said he would not consider giving any of his key players larger-than-usual workloads for the sake of notching an NBA Cup victory. How does Joel Embiid feel? "I never really cared," Embiid said. "To me, at the end of the day, you've still got to win a basketball game. But I'm going broke, so I need some money. So I've got to make a speech to the guys, and get them going. I need a little bit of money. Yeah, it's not looking good right now for me."
For Giannis Antetokoumpo their 0-4 start gave them a chip on their shoulder to respond to critics and the outside noise. "I feel like the first four games, it was a good feeling," Giannis told reporters after their 145-125 NBA Cup opener win against the Indiana Pacers. "Obviously, we were over a kind of shock of how things were going, but it's a good feeling because now you know that feeling, being down, being doubted, being criticized, and now that we're winning. We have two in a row. We just got to keep on staying humble because this can flip immediately.
Brett Siegel: Without Jaylen Brown, the 76ers improved to 5-1 with a 98-93 win in NBA Cup group play over the defending champion Knicks. Tyrese Maxey and Anfernee Simons combined for 48 points and 8 triples for Philly. New York is now 2-4 on the season.
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Chris Haynes: The Emirates NBA Cup tickets to the championship game at Hinkie Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Dec. 11 has sold out in less than two hours after going on sale to the public. Fans can still get premium access via NBAExperiences.com.
New York Knicks reserve guard Jose Alvarado will miss Friday's NBA Cup game against the Philadelphia 76ers because of a right ankle injury, according to the NBA's injury report. Alvarado will miss his fourth straight game, having last played last Friday in Boston for 10 minutes.
The winning team gets a trophy and $604,985 per player on the roster on a standard contract, according to the league. Those on a standard contract playing on the runner-up roster will receive $241,994. Each standard contract player on teams that lose in the semifinals will receive $120,997, and $60,499 will be awarded to players on teams that lost in the quarterfinals. Two-way players on each roster will receive 50 percent of the amounts corresponding with how far their team advances. All NBA Cup games, except for the final, count toward a team’s regular-season, 82-game record.
Mike Curtis: #Mavs forward Naji Marshall (illness) is listed as questionable for tomorrow's NBA Cup opener against the #Rockets. Santi Aldama (right knee surgery) and Tarik Biberovic (right heel bursitis) are doubtful. Sergio De Larrea (right knee sprain) is out.
Bobby Krivitsky: Per the Celtics, Devin Carter (illness) remains out. Him being back around the team suggests he’s getting closer, though. Carter is the only player on the Celtics’ injury report before tomorrow’s NBA Cup contest against the Bulls.
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To promote the Dec. 9 Emirates NBA Cup Championship in Indianapolis (the fourth time the event has taken place and the third time with Emirates as the title sponsor), five Emirates-logoed NBA Cup game balls were hidden last month at locations throughout the city tied to the city’s basketball history. The finders will receive tickets to the game at the city’s Hinkle Fieldhouse. The league’s overall sponsorship business has seen record revenue for the past six consecutive years, according to a source familiar with the data.
The Philadelphia 76ers' game at the New York Knicks, one of three games opening the NBA season on Oct. 20, is the league's most expensive regular-season ticket for 2026-27, with a get-in price of $1,474. Based on ticketing data for 1,194 regular season and NBA Cup games USA TODAY obtained from TicketData on Oct. 19, the premium for that game is far from shocking. As the defending champions, Jalen Brunson and the Knicks are the priciest home team in the league, with a median get-in price of $226 at Madison Square Garden. That’s double the next highest median, held by the Los Angeles Lakers.
Tyrese Haliburton said he wishes his relationship with Damian Lillard could be repaired after the Indiana Pacers star stole Lillard's Dame Time celebration during the 2023 in-season tournament. In the first edition of what is now the NBA Cup, Haliburton hit a key 3-pointer with less than a minute left of the Pacers' semifinal win over Lillard and the Milwaukee Bucks, then looked at his wrist -- a la Lillard's celebration. Haliburton told "The Zach Lowe Show" in an episode published Thursday that the midseason tournament was key for the Pacers ahead of their run to the 2025 NBA Finals but that he understood how his mockery move damaged his relationship with a player he said he had looked up to for "a majority of my life." "I think what I do regret more than anything is what me and Dame's relationship has become," Haliburton told Lowe. "Because he was a guy who checked on me a lot early in my career, especially when I got traded [from the Kings to Pacers in 2022]."
But the highlight of the monologue, and arguably the entire show, was Jalen Brunson taking questions from four audience members who just happened to be his teammates in the Knicks’ starting lineup: Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart. Towns learned he can’t foul out of an SNL episode, Bridges lamented that his long arms won’t allow him to fly, and Anunoby channeled Chris Farley to note how awesome it was to score a game-winning put-back after a missed Brunson shot in Game 4. Brunson had the most fun with Hart, questioning him for grabbing Brunson from behind after the Knicks clinched the NBA Cup, while also showing a clip of Hart missing a layup in Game 4, leaving Hart to try passing off that miss as artificial intelligence. Brunson invited his teammates on stage to cap the monologue, creating an image never seen before in the show’s history: a starting lineup of defending NBA champions sharing the stage at Studio 8H.