The Sixers’ most anticipated opener in years will begin with a reminder of how last season ended. Five months after sweeping Philadelphia out of the playoffs, the Knicks will receive their rings and raise their first championship banner since 1973. LeBron James, Jaylen Brown and the rest of the Sixers’ new lineup will then attempt to interrupt the celebration. Philadelphia will then face a challenge that has historically favored the team holding the celebration. Defending champions have gone 63-16 in their first home game the following season, according to an NBC Sports Philadelphia review of NBA game logs dating to 1947. They have won 79.7% of those games with an average point differential of plus-8.1. Banner night was not always Opening Night. Before the 2000s, champions sometimes began the season with several road games. For this review, NBC Sports Philadelphia used the defending champion’s first home game of the following season. Because documentation of early championship ceremonies is incomplete, the review uses each defending champion’s first home game as the consistent historical comparison. The 2020 Lakers split their celebration. They received their rings before their home opener but waited until fans returned later that season to unveil the banner. The overall trend has continued in the modern NBA. Defending champions have gone 23-7 over the last 30 seasons. They have outscored their opponents by an average of 6.3 points. The seven visitors that won were the 1998-99 Atlanta Hawks, 2000-01 Utah Jazz, 2002-03 San Antonio Spurs, 2006-07 Chicago Bulls, 2011-12 Miami Heat, 2017-18 Houston Rockets and 2020-21 Los Angeles Clippers. All seven made the playoffs. Four reached at least the conference finals. The Spurs and Heat won the championship. Houston came within one victory of the Finals in 2018. The Clippers reached the Western Conference finals for the first time in franchise history in 2021. The same pattern extends beyond the last 30 seasons. Only 16 visiting teams have beaten a defending champion in this setting. Thirteen reached the playoffs. Three won the championship: the 1948-49 Minneapolis Lakers, 2002-03 Spurs and 2011-12 Heat. Winning an October game did not create those postseason runs. Strong teams are often selected to play in these matchups. It still shows the caliber of opponent that has typically been capable of interrupting a championship celebration. Chicago produced the most lopsided example. The Bulls watched Miami celebrate its 2006 championship and then handed the Heat a 108-66 loss. It remains the largest margin of defeat for a defending champion in the 79-game sample. Chicago won 49 games that season. The Bulls met Miami again in the first round of the playoffs and completed a four-game sweep. The Sixers franchise has been the visiting team in five defending champions’ first home games, including one during its years as the Syracuse Nationals. It lost all five. Syracuse fell 107-83 in Boston’s first home game as defending champion in 1957. The Philadelphia-era Sixers are 0-4. Three of those games came against Michael Jordan’s Bulls. They lost 110-90 in Chicago in 1991. They returned for another Bulls celebration in 1996 and lost 115-86. One of the ropes holding Chicago’s banner snapped during the ceremony, leaving it hanging unevenly above the court. The Sixers went back to Chicago the following season and lost 94-74. Their most recent appearance came in San Antonio on Nov. 2, 1999. The Spurs raised the first championship banner in franchise history and beat the Sixers 89-76. Those results have little connection to the current team. They do provide another measure of how difficult these nights have been for the visitor. The Sixers’ results have been much different in their own first home game after winning a championship. The franchise is 3-0. The Syracuse Nationals beat the Fort Wayne Pistons 114-113 in overtime after winning the 1955 championship. The 1967 Sixers opened their title defense with a 103-87 victory over the Lakers. The 1983 Sixers beat Washington 117-114. The Knicks are also 2-0 in their first home game after winning a title. New York beat Boston 114-107 after winning its first championship in 1970. Three years later, the Knicks began their next title defense with a 101-100 victory over Detroit. Tuesday will be their third such game and their first championship ceremony in 53 years. James has experienced this setting from the visiting side four times. He lost with Cleveland in Boston in 2008, with the Lakers at Golden State in 2022 and with the Lakers at Denver in 2023. His lone victory came on Christmas Day in 2011. The NBA lockout pushed the start of that season to Dec. 25. Dallas raised its first championship banner before hosting Miami in a rematch of the previous season’s Finals. The Mavericks did not receive their rings that afternoon. Owner Mark Cuban had waited until the lockout ended so returning players could help design them, leaving too little time to have them ready for the opener. James finished with 37 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in Miami’s 105-94 victory. The Heat went on to win the championship, giving James the first title of his career. Brown experienced the other side two years ago. He scored 23 points when Boston raised its 2024 championship banner and beat the Knicks 132-109. He will now be with the visiting team while New York holds a celebration of its own. One game cannot answer the larger questions surrounding the Sixers. The previous banner-night winners also show why Tuesday should not be dismissed as an ordinary opener. The teams that have beaten a defending champion in this setting have usually continued winning long after the ceremony ended. ...read more read less