76ers open NBA Cup group play against Knicks with Jaylen Brown questionable

The Philadelphia 76ers start their fourth NBA Cup campaign Friday night with the opponent they beat to open the season. The Knicks, who won last year's Cup, come to Xfinity Mobile Arena, and Philadelphia may be without Jaylen Brown. The team listed him as questionable with left knee soreness Thursday night, according to NBC10 Philadelphia.

Brown has played in all five games and averages 20.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists. His 36.3 minutes a night ranked fourth in the league as of Thursday. Liberty Ballers, writing on SB Nation, called him central to this matchup because New York has plenty of wings to throw at him and LeBron James. Neither James nor Joel Embiid is on the injury report for the first night of a back-to-back. Embiid comes in off a double-double and a triple-double in his last two games. Dominick Barlow, Jabari Walker, Tacko Fall and Ariel Hukporti remain out, NBC Sports Philadelphia reported, and Knicks backup guard Jose Alvarado is out with a left ankle sprain.

The game counts twice. It opens East Group B, which also includes Cleveland, Indiana and Miami. Philadelphia has not gotten out of group play in three tries and is 5-7 all time in the tournament, including a 1-3 finish last season. New York took the other path last year: it beat San Antonio 124-113 in the final, and Jalen Brunson was named Cup MVP. It is also the second regular-season meeting in 10 days between division rivals. A Philadelphia win would guarantee the Sixers at least a split of the season series, which could matter if a tiebreaker comes into play in the spring.

The offense is still unsettled. Harrison Grimm of Liberty Ballers described it as "best labeled as a work in progress," and noted that James has yet to take over as a scorer while the stars sort out when to attack and when to defer.

What it means for Friday

Philadelphia is 4-1, and its only loss came at home to Detroit, 106-93. The Sixers beat the Knicks 106-100 at Madison Square Garden on opening night. They followed that with home wins over Cleveland (114-106) and Milwaukee (127-116), and on Wednesday they won 114-109 at Indiana. In that game Brown played 34 minutes and finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Even with the home floor and the earlier win, the board makes New York a slight favorite. On Novig the Knicks are favored at -115 on the moneyline and Philadelphia is +111. The spread is Knicks -1.5 at -106, with the Sixers +1.5 at +104. Sportsbook hold across the 12 venues runs from 2.9% to 4.5% on the moneyline and up to 5.1% on the spread. That is a tight range for a game this close to even.

Novig has the total at 227.5, with the over at -100 and the under at -104. The best over price elsewhere is at Fanatics, -110 at 227, and hold on the total runs from 3.3% to 5.0% across the venues. Brown's status is the variable most likely to move these numbers before tip-off at 7:30 p.m. ET on Prime Video. Current prices are on the game page, and the season so far is on the 76ers team page.