UR MAG

The2026 FIFA World Cupkicks off June 11 as the global spectacle takes place across North America.

This edition will be the biggest in the tournament’s history, featuring 48 teams spread across 12 groups all vying the for the coveted trophy. Eleven cities in the U.S., three in Mexico and two in Canada will play host over a month of action.

2026 FIFA World Cup groups

2. South Africa

2. Bosnia and Herzegovina

2. Paraguay

3. Korea Republic

3. Australia

4. Switzerland

4. Scotland

1. Netherlands

2. Cape Verde

3. Ivory Coast

3. Saudi Arabia

4. New Zealand

1. Argentina

1. Portugal

2. DR Congo

3. Uzbekistan

4. Colombia

Get full coverage of the 2026 World Cup in our soccer hub

2026 FIFA World Cup daily schedule

(All times Eastern)

Thursday, June 11

Group A:Mexico vs. South Africa, 3 p.m. – Estadio Azteca, Mexico CityGroup A:South Korea vs. Czechia, 10 p.m. – Estadio Akron, Zapopan, Mexico

Friday, June 12

Group B:Canada vs. Bosnia & Herzegovina, 3 p.m. – BMO Field, TorontoGroup D:USA vs. Paraguay, 9 p.m. – SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California

Saturday, June 13

Group B:Qatar vs. Switzerland, 3 p.m. – Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, CaliforniaGroup C:Brazil vs. Morocco, 6 p.m. – MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New JerseyGroup C:Haiti vs. Scotland, 9 p.m. – Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts

Sunday, June 14

Group D:Australia vs. Türkiye, 12 p.m. – BC Place, Vancouver, British ColumbiaGroup E:Germany vs. Curaçao, 1 p.m. – NRG Stadium, HoustonGroup F:Netherlands vs. Japan, 4 p.m. – AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TexasGroup E:Ivory Coast vs. Ecuador, 7 p.m. – Lincoln Financial Field, PhiladelphiaGroup F:Sweden vs. Tunisia, 10 p.m. – Estadio BBVA, Monterrey, Mexico

Monday, June 15

Group H:Spain vs. Cape Verde, 12 p.m. – Mercedes-Benz Stadium, AtlantaGroup G:Belgium vs. Egypt, 3 p.m. – Lumen Field, SeattleGroup H:Saudi Arabia vs. Uruguay, 6 p.m. – Hard Rock Stadium, Miami GardensGroup G:Iran vs. New Zealand, 9 p.m. – SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California

Tuesday, June 16

Group I:France vs. Senegal, 3 p.m. – MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New JerseyGroup I:Iraq vs. Norway, 6 p.m. – Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MassachusettsGroup J:Argentina vs. Algeria, 9 p.m. – Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City

Wednesday, June 17

Group J:Austria vs. Jordan, 12 a.m. – Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, CaliforniaGroup K:Portugal vs. DR Congo, 1 p.m. – NRG Stadium, HoustonGroup L:England vs. Croatia, 4 p.m. – AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TexasGroup L:Ghana vs. Panama, 7 p.m. – BMO Field, TorontoGroup K:Uzbekistan vs. Colombia, 10 p.m. – Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

Thursday, June 18

Group A:Czechia vs. South Africa, 12 p.m. – Mercedes-Benz Stadium, AtlantaGroup B:Switzerland vs. Bosnia & Herzegovina, 3 p.m. – SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, CaliforniaGroup B:Canada vs. Qatar, 6 p.m. – BC Place, Vancouver, British ColumbiaGroup A:Mexico vs. South Korea, 9 p.m. – Estadio Akron, Zapopan, Mexico

Friday, June 19

Group D:USA vs. Australia, 3 p.m. – Lumen Field, SeattleGroup C:Scotland vs. Morocco, 6 p.m. – Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MassachusettsGroup C:Brazil vs. Haiti, 8:30 p.m. – Lincoln Financial Field, PhiladelphiaGroup D:Türkiye vs. Paraguay, 11 p.m. – Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, California

Saturday, June 20

Group F:Netherlands vs. Sweden, 1 p.m. – NRG Stadium, HoustonGroup E:Germany vs. Ivory Coast, 4 p.m. – BMO Field, TorontoGroup E:Ecuador vs. Curaçao, 8 p.m. – Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City

Sunday, June 21

Group F:Tunisia vs. Japan, 12 a.m. – Estadio BBVA, Monterrey, MexicoGroup H:Spain vs. Saudi Arabia, 12 p.m. – Mercedes-Benz Stadium, AtlantaGroup G:Belgium vs. Iran, 3 p.m. – SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, CaliforniaGroup H:Uruguay vs. Cape Verde, 6 p.m. – Hard Rock Stadium, Miami GardensGroup G:New Zealand vs. Egypt, 9 p.m. – BC Place, Vancouver, British Columbia

Monday, June 22

Group J:Argentina vs. Austria, 1 p.m. – AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TexasGroup I:France vs. Iraq, 5 p.m. – Lincoln Financial Field, PhiladelphiaGroup I:Norway vs. Senegal, 8 p.m. – MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New JerseyGroup J:Jordan vs. Algeria, 11 p.m. – Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, California

Tuesday, June 23

Group K:Portugal vs. Uzbekistan, 1 p.m. – NRG Stadium, HoustonGroup L:England vs. Ghana, 4 p.m. – Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MassachusettsGroup L:Panama vs. Croatia, 7 p.m. – BMO Field, TorontoGroup K:Colombia vs. DR Congo, 10 p.m. – Estadio Akron, Zapopan, Mexico

Wednesday, June 24

Group B:Switzerland vs. Canada, 3 p.m. – BC Place, Vancouver, British ColumbiaGroup B:Bosnia & Herzegovina vs. Qatar, 3 p.m. – Lumen Field, SeattleGroup C:Scotland vs. Brazil, 6 p.m. – Hard Rock Stadium, Miami GardensGroup C:Morocco vs. Haiti, 6 p.m. – Mercedes-Benz Stadium, AtlantaGroup A:Czechia vs. Mexico, 9 p.m. – Estadio Azteca, Mexico CityGroup A:South Africa vs. South Korea, 9 p.m. – Estadio BBVA, Monterrey, Mexico

Thursday, June 25

Group E:Curaçao vs. Ivory Coast, 4 p.m. – Lincoln Financial Field, PhiladelphiaGroup E:Ecuador vs. Germany, 4 p.m. – MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New JerseyGroup F:Japan vs. Sweden, 7 p.m. – AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TexasGroup F:Tunisia vs. Netherlands, 7 p.m. – Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas CityGroup D:Türkiye vs. USA, 10 p.m. – SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, CaliforniaGroup D:Paraguay vs. Australia, 10 p.m. – Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, California

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Friday, June 26

Group I:Norway vs. France, 3 p.m. – Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MassachusettsGroup I:Senegal vs. Iraq, 3 p.m. – BMO Field, TorontoGroup H:Cape Verde vs. Saudi Arabia, 8 p.m. – NRG Stadium, HoustonGroup H:Uruguay vs. Spain, 8 p.m. – Estadio Akron, Zapopan, MexicoGroup G:Egypt vs. Iran, 11 p.m. – Lumen Field, SeattleGroup G:New Zealand vs. Belgium, 11 p.m. – BC Place, Vancouver, British Columbia

Saturday, June 27

Group L:Panama vs. England, 5 p.m. – MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New JerseyGroup L:Croatia vs. Ghana, 5 p.m. – Lincoln Financial Field, PhiladelphiaGroup K:Colombia vs. Portugal, 7:30 p.m. – Hard Rock Stadium, Miami GardensGroup K:DR Congo vs. Uzbekistan, 7:30 p.m. – Mercedes-Benz Stadium, AtlantaGroup J:Algeria vs. Austria, 10 p.m. – Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas CityGroup J:Jordan vs. Argentina, 10 p.m. – AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas

Sunday, June 28

Round of 32:Runner-up A vs. Runner-up B, 3 p.m. – SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California

Monday, June 29

Round of 32:Winner C vs. Runner-up F, 1 p.m. – NRG Stadium, HoustonRound of 32:Winner E vs. Best 3rd (A/B/C/D/F), 4:30 p.m. – Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MassachusettsRound of 32:Winner F vs. Runner-up C, 9 p.m. – Estadio BBVA, Monterrey, Mexico

Tuesday, June 30

Round of 32:Runner-up E vs. Runner-up I, 1 p.m. – AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TexasRound of 32:Winner I vs. Best 3rd (C/D/F/G/H), 5 p.m. – MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New JerseyRound of 32:Winner A vs. Best 3rd (C/E/F/H/I), 9 p.m. – Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

Wednesday, July 1

Round of 32:Winner L vs. Best 3rd (E/H/I/J/K), 12 p.m. – Mercedes-Benz Stadium, AtlantaRound of 32:Winner G vs. Best 3rd (A/E/H/I/J), 4 p.m. – Lumen Field, SeattleRound of 32:Winner D vs. Best 3rd (B/E/F/I/J), 8 p.m. – Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, California

Thursday, July 2

Round of 32:Winner H vs. Runner-up J, 3 p.m. – SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, CaliforniaRound of 32:Runner-up K vs. Runner-up L, 7 p.m. – BMO Field, TorontoRound of 32:Winner B vs. Best 3rd (E/F/G/I/J), 11 p.m. – BC Place, Vancouver, British Columbia

Friday, July 3

Round of 32:Runner-up D vs. Runner-up G, 2 p.m. – AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TexasRound of 32:Winner J vs. Runner-up H, 6 p.m. – Hard Rock Stadium, Miami GardensRound of 32:Winner K vs. Best 3rd (D/E/I/J/L), 9:30 p.m. – Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City

Saturday, July 4

Round of 16:Round of 32 winners, 1 p.m. – NRG Stadium, HoustonRound of 16:Round of 32 winners, 5 p.m. – Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia

Sunday, July 5

Round of 16:Round of 32 winners, 4 p.m. – MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New JerseyRound of 16:Round of 32 winners, 8 p.m. – Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

Monday, July 6

Round of 16:Round of 32 winners, 3 p.m. – AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TexasRound of 16:Round of 32 winners, 8 p.m. – Lumen Field, Seattle

Tuesday, July 7

Round of 16:Round of 32 winners, 12 p.m. – Mercedes-Benz Stadium, AtlantaRound of 16:Round of 32 winners, 4 p.m. – BC Place, Vancouver, British Columbia

Thursday, July 9

Quarterfinal:Round of 16 winners, 4 p.m. – Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts

Friday, July 10

Quarterfinal:Round of 16 winners, 3 p.m. – SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California

Saturday, July 11

Quarterfinal:Round of 16 winners, 5 p.m. – Hard Rock Stadium, Miami GardensQuarterfinal:Round of 16 winners, 9 p.m. – Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City

Tuesday, July 14

Semifinal:Quarterfinal winners, 3 p.m. – AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas

Wednesday, July 15

Semifinal:Quarterfinal winners, 3 p.m. – Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta

Saturday, July 18

Third-place match:Semifinal losers, 5 p.m. – Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens

Sunday, July 19

Final:Semifinal winners, 3 p.m. – MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey

This soft, slightly sweet cinnamon swirl banana bread fills the kitchen with the comforting aroma of cinnamon and baked bananas.

Scripps News food and wellness contributor Jessica DeLuise shows that it makes the perfect homemade addition to a Mother’s Day brunch, breakfast or dessert table.

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread

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Ingredients

• 3 ripe bananas

• 3 eggs

• ¼ cup olive oil or melted butter

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 1 ½ cups almond flour

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1 /2 tsp salt

  Swirl

• 2 tbsp granulated sugar

• 2 tbsp melted butter

• 1 tbsp cinnamon

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT |These cheesy tots pack hidden vegetables into a crispy bite

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350°F.

• Prep the load pan by buttering the sides or lining it with parchment paper.

• In a large mixing bowl, use a fork to mash bananas until smooth.

• Add the eggs, oil, and vanilla and mix well.

• Stir in almond flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt until combined.

• In a separate small bowl, mix the swirl ingredients into a paste.

• Pour half the batter into the pan and spread it out with a spatula.

• Add half the cinnamon swirl on top and carefully spread it around in a thin layer.

• Repeat this process with the remaining batter, then the remaining swirl.

• Bake for 40–45 minutes until just set in the center

• Let cool in the loaf pan for at least 20–30 minutes before slicing.

Jarvis Hayes doesn’t recall the last time he felt tempted to play pickup basketball.

Going 1-on-1 against his teenage sons is the most that the 2003 NBA lottery pick can withstand. Anything more physically demanding requires too many jarring collisions for Hayes’ battle-weary body, too much explosive movement for his surgically repaired right knee.

“I just can’t move like I used to,” Hayes, now 44, told Yahoo Sports. “I don't want to end up in the emergency room with a popped Achilles or some other crazy injury.”

Time has caught up with 57 of the 58 players who were part of the NBA’s celebrated 2003 draft class. Slowed by declining athleticism, lingering injuries and waning motivation, they’ve hung up their high tops and moved on to less strenuous careers, ascoachesandTV analysts,investorsandentrepreneurs,fruit farmersandinsurance brokers.

Suffering through that humbling experience has only made some of those 2003 draftees more awestruck by the one member of their class who is defying the NBA’s typical age timeline. At 41, with thinning hair and a salt-and-pepper beard, LeBron James is stillripping through the seams of the defense, stillthrowing down reverse windmill slams, still tallying 20-plus-point games and near triple-doubles with staggering regularity.

With Luka Dončić sidelined by a hamstring injury and Austin Reaves unavailable for the opening four games of the series, James carried the Los Angeles Lakers past the younger, more athletic Houston Rockets in the opening round of the playoffs. The NBA’s most grizzled veteran then led all scorers with 27 points on Tuesday night as the underdog Lakers opened the Western Conference semifinals with a 108-90 loss to reigning champion Oklahoma City.

“The man has made close to $580 million in contract money and he's still grinding like an undrafted rookie,” said Troy Bell, the 16th overall pick in the 2003 draft.

Or as Hayes puts it, “We've never seen a player at this age have this type of impact. I know he's not going to play forever, but it damn sure feels like it.”

For some 2003 draftees, their introduction to James came via Michael Jordan, of all people. Each summer, Jordan invited an assortment of rising stars to serve as instructors at his Flight School camp in Santa Barbara, Calif. Among those who received invitations to the 2002 edition were an assortment of top college prospects and a high school phenom who Sports Illustrated had already anointed “The Chosen One.”

At the end of the first day of camp, the instructors split into two teams and treated the campers to a show. Early in that pickup game, 6-foot-11 Minnesota Golden Gophers forward Rick Rickert found himself in an unenviable position — on an island trying to slide his feet to prevent a 17-year-old James from blowing past him to the rim.

At first, Rickert was confident. He showed up to Minnesota as a prized recruit and validated the hype by winning Big Ten freshman of the year honors. Why would Rickert be scared to check some high school hotshot two years younger than him? Then James got Rickert off balance and shook free of him with a step-back dribble. The way Rickert remembers it, the separation was so chasm-like that he couldn’t even contest James’ shot.

“I’m standing in the lane and now this dude’s at the 3-point line,” said Rickert, who nine months later would become the 55th pick in the 2003 NBA Draft. “I might be exaggerating a little bit, but that’s what it felt like. I'm just sitting there like, ‘Holy crap, I wasn't expecting that.’”

It wasn’t long before James also began leaving NBA players gobsmacked. The endlessly hyped teenager became the NBA’s rookie of the year after averaging more than 20 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists during his debut season.

By 2005, James made his first of 22 consecutive NBA All-Star teams. By 2007, James dragged a pedestrian Cleveland Cavaliers roster to the first of his 10 career NBA Finals appearances. Before long, James overtook Kobe Bryant as the NBA’s best player and biggest superstar and began amassing a résumé rivaled only by Jordan. No one has ever entered the NBA with more buildup than James. And yet, if anything, James exceeded expectations.

At the same time that James was ascending the NBA’s all-time scoring chart and refusing to give in to the Golden State Warriors dynasty, other luminaries from the 2003 draft class began showing their age.

Spinal injuries cut short point guard T.J. Ford’s NBA career in 2012. Severe knee injuries and an unflattering viral video sent Josh Howard tumbling out of the NBA in 2012 and forced the former All-Star to stop pursuing basketball in 2014. From 2016 to 2019, Kirk Hinrich, Mo Williams, David West, Nick Collison, Kendrick Perkins and James’ former Miami Heat co-stars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh each also announced their retirements. When Carmelo Anthony couldn’t find an NBA team willing to offer him a contract before the 2022-23 season, James became the final 2003 draft pick still active.

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Last March, James became the NBA’s ultimate ironman, breaking Hall of Fame center Robert Parish’s record for career games played. He now has appeared in 1,622 regular-season games and another 299 playoff games, the equivalent of nearly another four full seasons.

“He’s an anomaly,” Rickert said. “We might not see anyone like him for a long, long time.”

Credit James’ unprecedented longevity to his discipline taking care of his body. He devotes long hours every day to preparation, strength and conditioning and recovery.

It starts the first 6 to 8 weeks of the offseason when James goes out of his way not to touch a basketball. He instead spends his time doing yoga, pilates, stretching, massages, anything he can do to rejuvenate his body.

For James, the latter half of the offseason is all about ramping up his conditioning, sharpening his skills and getting his mind right. There’s no substitute for logging 38 minutes in an NBA game, but James tries to get himself as close to game shape as possible.

Rest, hydration and nutrition are key for James in-season. He aims for 8-10 hours of sleep per day. He totes around a 1 gallon jug of water and downs a couple of those by the time he goes to bed at night. A private chef helps ensure that his meals are balanced and loaded with lean proteins, fruits and vegetables.

Chocolate chip cookies and ice cream are James’ vices,he admitted last year on the Mind the Game Podcast with Steve Nash, but even when he cheats, he’s purposeful about it.

“I have to get the dairy-free ice cream and the low-fat, gluten-free cookies,” James said. “My daughter goes in [the freezer]. She gets her vanilla bean ice cream with extra cream. I’ll be looking at it like, ‘Damn, that looks so good.’”

Painstaking preparation has enabled James to play at a high level into his 40s, but he is only human. There are times when he’ll get out of bed the morning after a game with an aching back, sore ankles and heavy legs.

As James admitted to Nash, “Those are the moments I’m like, ‘Bron, what the hell are you still doing out here? What the f— are you doing?”

To Bell, what James is doing is unfathomable. The former two-time Big East player of the year at Boston College knows firsthand how tough it is to even play at a high level into your mid-30s.

At the end of his 13th season of professional basketball, Bell remembers dialing his agent and revealing that he was ready to retire. He had played in six different countries and on three different continents. His surgically repaired knees ached and his stiff back felt like it was made of rusty iron.

“Please don’t reach out to me about another job because I’ve never been good at turning down good contracts,” Bell instructed his agent. “I have to transition to being a normal working person because my body can’t do this anymore.”

While Bell has started a second life as a high school basketball coach in his native Minnesota, James keeps adding to his unparalleled NBA résumé. He surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer three years ago. A year later, he became the first NBA player to play alongside his own son.

James scored 10 or more points in 1,297 straight games from Jan. 6, 2007, to Dec. 4, 2025. Then he ended that streak in the most fitting possible way earlier this season, driving and kicking to an open Rui Hachimura in the left corner for a buzzer-beating 3-pointer rather than forcing a shot to try to reach 10 points.

It has been 23 years since Bell first met James before they both became first-round picks in the 2003 NBA Draft. How James’ career has unfolded since then is so remarkable that Bell likens it to an unrealistic movie script.

Said Bell, “If they would have given all of us a pen and paper in 2003 and had every single one of us write down our ideal NBA career, none of us would have been able to write down anything better than what he's currently living.”

A single fall after the age of 40 could increase one’s futuredementia riskby over 20 per cent, reveals a new review of studies conducted in China.

For people experiencingmultiple fallsafter this age, their future risk could increase up to 74 per cent, say scientists from the Changchun University of Chinese Medicine.

"Recurrent falls may serve as a potentialclinical markerfor identifying individuals at higher risk," researchers wrote in the study published in theJournal of Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine.

Dementiaand falls both affect elderly populations and are commonly associated with ageing, with many studies probing the link between the two.

Studies show there could be common neurological issues linked to both falls and dementia, indicating that falls could be an early symptom of cognitive decline.

Older adults with dementia also experience more frequent falls, but it is unclear whether falls notably precede dementia.

"This study provides the first quantitative evidence, based on a systematic review and meta-analysis, demonstrating an association between a history of falls in middle-aged and older adults and the subsequent risk of dementia," scientists wrote.

In the review research, scientists assessed seven studies, including case reports of nearly three million participants aged 40 or older, who were without dementia at baseline.

Among nearly 1.25 million middle-aged and older adults in the pooled analysis who had a history of falls future dementia incidence was over 11 per cent.

The dementia incidence was higher at 12.3 per cent among adults aged 60 years or more.

“Both single falls and multiple falls increased the risk of future all-cause dementia, and multiple falls were a more robust predictor of future dementia,” scientists wrote.

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A separate analysis of three of the seven studies showed that a single fall was linked to a 20 per cent higher risk of future dementia, while multiple falls were associated with a 74 per cent higher risk.

“The results indicate that the frequency of falls exhibits a dose-response relationship with dementia risk,” they wrote.

The findings, according to researchers, show that falls are “not merely coincidental but serve as an early clinical marker of accelerating neurodegenerative decline”.

Scientists suspect three possible mechanisms could be behind this link.

One is that since falls cause injuries, they could directly lead to dementia by driving or speeding up cognitive decline.

Alternatively, researchers suspect neurodegeneration could be already underway long before a formal dementia diagnosis, which also contributes to falls.

This aligns with the observation that falling more often could lead to more advanced dementia.

Researchers also suspect a vicious cycle could be at play.

A middle-aged person experiencing a single fall could develop a fear of further falls and reduce physical and social activities, both of which are protective against dementia.

In any case, scientists call for clinicians to maintain heightened vigilance for cognitive decline in middle-aged and older adults with a history of recurrent falls so that dementia is detected early.

They hope future studies can further clarify this association and support preventive strategies in ageing populations.

NEW YORK — Maybe you thought Joel Embiidmissing Wednesday’s Game 2of the 2026 Eastern Conference semifinals series between the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers threatened to sap all the drama out of the Sixers’ attempt to get right and get level after theirGame 1 destruction.

Well, Mike Brown didn’t.

“They’re still a good team, you know?” the Knicks head coach said before Game 2. “They’ve got a lot of guys that can put the ball on the floor and attack the rim. They can shoot 3s. They still like to get out in transition. They’re a good team with [Embiid] — obviously, they’re a really good team, because he’s a Hall of Famer, All-NBA selection — but without him, they have some guys that are capable of stepping up.”

Some of those guys did step up Wednesday. Tyrese Maxey attacked off the bounce, scoring 15 of his 26 points in the second quarter, resting for just 72 seconds in the first half and playing the entire second half — a 46-minute, 48-second performance for the All-Star point guard. Paul George came out scorching hot, drilling his first four shots on his way to a five-3-pointer evening, while also sliding across defensive matchups like the two-way star he’s long been.

VJ Edgecombe and Kelly Oubre Jr. each hit three 3-pointers and grabbed a handful of rebounds. Reserve center Adem Bona pounded the offensive glass and protected the rim in the first half. Backup big man Dominick Barlow had two dunks, a layup, two blocks, a steal and several stops against Jalen Brunson on switches in the second half.

Two nights after getting absolutely shellacked, the shorthanded and overmatched Sixers were putting together a performance that dragged a Knicks team that had only played blowouts over the past couple of weeks down into the mud — a physical, foul-filled, aggressive slugfest; a fistfight in a phone booth in which neither team could gain more than three possessions of separation.

“It was a playoff basketball game, you know,” Brown said. “The game was ugly offensively throughout most of the game. You give the Sixers a lot of credit — we knew that they were going to come out, they're going to be more physical, they were going to try to get in the passing lanes and activate the ball a little bit more. So you give them credit.

“But I also give our guys credit.”

The Knicks earned that praise because, when hit with a real counterpunch for the first timesince CJ McCollum called game for the second time, they didn’t buckle or fold. They withstood Philly’s pressure, kept firing back and tightened the screws defensively, holding the visitors to just one field goal over the final six minutes and 52 seconds of the fourth quarter, authoring a 12-3 run in the guts of the game to score a so-grimy-it’s-golden108-102 win. The Knicks took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 3 tips off in Philadelphia at 7 p.m. ET on Friday.

“We got the stops that was needed,” said Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns, who battled foul trouble throughout the first half but got going after intermission, finishing with 20 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists and a steal in 27 minutes. “Got the rebounds — I think that was something that was really hurting us, with their offensive rebounding — and we found a way to get the stops and end those possessions.”

Those stops held up because the Knicks also got the buckets they needed —justenough of them, anyway.

After struggling with his jumper throughout the postseason, Josh Hartcanned a corner 3off an OG Anunoby drive-and-kick to tie the game at 99 with 6:25 to go. Brunson continued attacking young big man Barlow on switches, getting to his spots for a pair ofmidrangejumpersto push the lead to four. Mikal Bridges, whose early-playoff woes were so pronounced that Brown had to field questions about whether or not he’d be benched, bailed out a possession that featured George blocking an Anunoby dunk attempt — a possession on which Anunobyappeared to hurt his right leg, which will be ahugestoryline between now and Game 3 — by making ahuge midrange pull-upto put New York up by six with less than three minutes to go.

“On offense, huge shoutout to [Mikal Bridges], to Jalen, making the big shots and giving us a lead like that,” Towns said. “But our defense was something special.”

After 33, 29 and 28 points in the first three quarters, Philadelphia managed just 12 in the fourth, shooting 4-for-19 from the floor and 1-for-10 from 3-point range, with stars Maxey and George missing 10 of their 12 shots in the deciding frame.

“We played good enough defense to win that game,” 76ers head coach Nick Nurse said. “Especially in the fourth. But again, you know, I mean — hold ‘em to 19 in the fourth. You gotta hope you can score more than 20 in a quarter.”

The Sixers had their chances: aclean above-the-break look for Oubrewith Towns sagging back toward the paint; acorner 3 for Edgecombewith Anunoby late on the contest; awide-open Maxey 3 in the corneroff an offensive rebound; aGeorge pull-upin the final minute. But none of them went down, and combined with a pair of costly turnovers — Maxeylosing the ball on a drivewith 2:39 remaining, and Barlowthrowing the ball awaytrying to feed Oubre on a baseline cut with 2:08 to go — that gave the Knicks just enough cushion to be able to get across the finish line.

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“I just wish that a couple of those really good offensive [possessions], we would’ve … you know, all’s we needed was one or two. We didn’t need all five of ‘em,” Nurse said. “We just needed one or two to kind of get the thing down to the end, where we at least had a chance.”

On one hand, it’s reasonable to wonder whether those late-game possessions didn’t break the Sixers’ way, in part, because the players executing them were dog tired. Maxey played the entire second half, facing aggressive Knicks coverages aimed at getting the ball out of his hands and preventing him from getting to the rim the whole time. George and Edgecombe both played more than 22 of the 24 minutes, balancing shot-making responsibility with significant defensive tasks, as the rookie served as the tip of the spear in Philadelphia’s game plan on Brunson — a defensive effort that Nurse later graded as “above-average,” with the Knicks superstar scoring 26 points on 21 shots with six assists and three turnovers — while George slid over to cross-match onto Towns in the fourth.

“I thought we just might've ran out of gas a little bit in the fourth,” said George, who finished with 19 points on 7-for-18 shooting, six rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals in 43 minutes. “We could've did a better job of getting some easier ones, but I think we did just run out of gas a little bit in the fourth.”

On the other, with Embiid unavailable, offense at a premium, and the threat of an 0-2 deficit staring him in the face, you can understand why Nurse decided to stick with the stars he still had.

“Tyrese played almost the entire game, and he’s a plus-minus of zero in a six-point loss,” Nurse said. “So even the minute and [12] seconds he was out obviously wasn’t very good.”

The Sixers gave themselves a much better chance on Wednesday than they did in Game 1. They tested New York’s defense early, beginning Game 2 with a long-range barrage — six 3s in the first quarter, 58.8% shooting as a team in the opening frame — to jump out to a 33-31 lead after 12 minutes. Despite finally cooling off from distance themselves, the Knicks kept generating good looks and scoring with Philly, particularly when Towns was on the floor.

Which, admittedly, was not often. Even with Embiid sidelined, New York’s All-Star center picked up three fouls in the first half, limiting him to just over eight minutes of floor time through the opening two quarters.

“I don't want to lose the physicality — that’s just something that's done us well in the last game,” Towns said. “I'll look at the tape, I'll get better, more disciplined. You know, I don't want to put my team in that position again, so I got to do a better job.”

Towns wasn’t alone. Reserve New York center Ariel Hukporti, elevated into the backup slot with Mitchell Robinson ruled out for Game 2 due to illness, picked up four fouls in less than seven first-half minutes. For Philadelphia, Andre Drummond, starting in place of Embiid, committed four fouls in under 15 minutes, while the energetic Bona was called for five in 16 — part of a whistle-filled affair that featured 43 fouls and 53 free throws, and that forced both coaches to go deeper into their rotations in search of a different way to win.

The Sixers come away knowing that they can make New York sweat, with or without Embiid — that the Knicks’ desire to slow Maxey at all costs can be exploited; that they can generate good 3s against a Knicks defense that can at times over-help in the paint; that Bona and Barlow can give them a jolt of athleticism, shot-blocking and switchability on the defensive end; and that the Knicks are not, in fact, just going to shoot 70% on 2s and 50% on 3s every game.

“I think you learn a lot through each game,” Nurse said. “I think it took us a couple of games to figure out some of the rotations and matchups last series [against Boston], and I think the same thing is happening.”

“We definitely feel like we can pull ourselves out of this one,” Maxey said. “Gotta go home and get two.”

"We felt like we should've won it," Edgecombe said.

“We like where we're at,” George added.

So, too, do the Knicks, who find themselves two wins away from a second straight trip to the Eastern Conference finals. They got there behind a balanced effort, with Brunson, Towns, Anunoby and Bridges all scoring at least 18 points, and by reminding themselves that, even on a night when they don’t play a perfect game, they’ve still got more than enough to get the job done.

“It was just us executing, being disciplined, finding a way to get a gritty win,” Towns said. “Something that, for better or for worse, hasn't been in our cards the last four games, but you know, this showed a lot about our locker room and our team.”