LeBron shrugs off Trump blast in home debut win for Philadelphia 76ers

LeBron James enjoyed a dream home debut for the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday, helping his new team overturn a 29-point deficit to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 114-106 in the NBA.

The victory came just hours after James was branded a “disgrace” by US President Donald Trump, who accused the basketball star of disrespecting the national anthem earlier in the week. Al Jazeera reported that it had asked the 76ers for a response to Trump's criticism; James himself has made no public comment.

Tyrese Maxey led the fightback with 32 points, while Joel Embiid added 24, including a jump shot with 6:54 remaining. Jaylen Brown, the former Boston Celtics star and the Sixers' other major off-season signing, contributed 21 points.

It was the biggest comeback of James's career. “You don't want to rely on that,” he said afterwards. “But you don't want to put yourself in too many of those situations.”

Cleveland had seized control behind Donovan Mitchell, who scored 22 of his 32 points in the first half, and early home boos turned to raucous cheers as Philadelphia opened the third quarter on an 11-0 run.

The win followed the Sixers' victory over the reigning champion New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday. “We stayed together. That's the main thing,” said guard VJ Edgecombe.