Beating the defending champions feels like it should mean something. It doesn't, not yet, and Philadelphia fans claiming this 98-93 win over the Knicks proves they're building a title team are getting way ahead of the evidence.
The Sixers led by a chunk of points, then watched a Knicks team on the tail end of a brutal back-to-back stretch claw back into it, and needed a fourth-quarter fadeaway from a 41-year-old LeBron James and a late bucket from V.J. Edgecombe just to survive. Five points. That's the margin. It tied Philadelphia's win over Indiana two nights earlier for the closest call of their young season. A juggernaut doesn't need the final 90 seconds to put away a team that's still finding its footing in year one of a new era.
None of that is a knock on LeBron. What he did was real: 20 points, nine rebounds, eight assists, a chase-down block, and his own coach called it the best game he's played since signing in Philadelphia. A 41-year-old doing that against anybody, let alone the champs, deserves the credit it's getting. If you want to argue he looks rejuvenated, I'm not going to fight you on it.
Rating
RatingThe problem with hanging a title case on him is simple: he isn't even the best player on this team right now. Tyrese Maxey dropped 27 and has been Philadelphia's engine through the opening stretch. Anfernee Simons is scoring off the bench. The defense and depth are doing real work. A team whose best performance of the season still required its oldest player to be heroic in the fourth quarter can have great nights without being built to win 16 playoff games.
The opponent wasn't whole, either. Jalen Brunson put up 24 and nearly dragged the Knicks back into it after rolling an ankle late, and Karl-Anthony Towns added 22. That's two stars grinding through adversity on short rest. Calling Brunson overrated because Philadelphia survived him is backwards: he's the reason this was a five-point game instead of a blowout.
RTGThis is six games into an 82-game season, with Jaylen Brown sidelined by a knee injury and unavailable to show what this roster looks like at full strength. Philadelphia is 5-1 through that stretch with a loss already on the books. That's a decent start, but six games don't make a résumé. Teams that actually threaten for a title put together months of quality wins against healthy, motivated opposition. A nervy five-point escape against a short-handed, gassed opponent doesn't qualify.
There's a real gap between what this team is and what its fans are already declaring it to be. LeBron bought this city a great Friday night. The parade route is still a long way off, and nobody should be measuring for the trophy case off one close win in October.
