Updated

Updated · NBC Sports Philadelphia · Oct 30

Sixers Open NBA Cup Group Play vs Knicks in East Group B as 4-1 Start Meets Defending Champions

Updated

Updated · NBC Sports Philadelphia · Oct 30

Sixers Open NBA Cup Group Play vs Knicks in East Group B as 4-1 Start Meets Defending Champions

Q: Will one loss in the NBA Cup’s toughest group already put the Knicks, Sixers, Heat or Pacers on the edge of elimination?

Yes. In East Group B, one loss likely puts a team on the brink, even if it does not eliminate it outright. This is the NBA Cup’s deepest group: Knicks, 76ers, Heat, Pacers and Cavaliers. With only four group games per team, history says the margin is tiny. Most group winners in prior editions finished 4-0 or 3-1, and every wild-card team also finished 3-1. That means 2-2 is almost certainly not enough, and even 3-1 has sometimes failed to advance because of tiebreakers. So for the Knicks, Sixers, Heat or Pacers, an opening loss would not end their chances, but it would remove almost all room for error. From that point, the likely path becomes winning the last three games and also protecting point differential, which is the key tiebreaker for wild-card spots and often decisive in multi-team ties. That pressure is already real. Philadelphia beat New York 98-93 in the opener, handing the Knicks the exact kind of damaging early loss that can reshape a group race. Miami also beat Indiana 145-125, leaving the Pacers in the same spot and giving the Heat a major point-differential boost that could matter later. In practical terms, the Knicks and Pacers are now close to must-win mode the rest of group play. The Sixers and Heat are in better shape, but in a group this strong, even they probably cannot afford a second loss if they want to feel safe.

3 articles · Updated · NBC Sports Philadelphia · Oct 30

Friday’s 76ers-Knicks rematch at Xfinity Mobile Arena doubles as Philadelphia’s NBA Cup opener, 10 days after the Sixers beat New York 106-100 at Madison Square Garden.
East Group B leaves little margin for error: each team gets four games, with head-to-head record, point differential and total points deciding ties; overtime games now carry a zero point differential for tiebreakers.
Philadelphia enters 4-1 after beating Indiana 114-109, while New York has recovered from an 0-3 start with back-to-back wins; Jalen Brunson scored 38 points against Chicago after a slow opening stretch.
Jaylen Brown is questionable with left knee soreness, Jose Alvarado is out for New York, and a Sixers win would give them an early head-to-head edge over the defending Cup and NBA champions.
The Sixers are 5-7 across the tournament’s first three editions and have never advanced past Group Play, while the Knicks won last year’s Cup before taking the NBA title.