Celtics at 76ers
The Philadelphia 76ers aren’t destined to win many games this season, which makes letting an 18-point lead slip away in the fourth quarter feel extra painful. Philadelphia will try to recover when it hosts the Boston Celtics on Monday, two nights after letting the Memphis Grizzlies escape town with an overtime victory. The Celtics are also struggling and have lost three straight games after falling to the New York Knicks on Friday.
The 120-115 overtime loss dropped Philadelphia to 0-12 at home and coach Brett Brown touched on the pain the squad was feeling. “I want to stand here and tell everybody that it’s a great learning experience and there’s some truth to that,” Brown told reporters. “But the truth of the matter is, that’s a gut-wrenching loss. That’s a fact. I feel for those guys.” Boston beat the 76ers 101-90 on Nov. 19 in Philadelphia when Brandon Bass scored 23 points and Jared Sullinger added 22.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, CSN New England (Boston), CSN Philadelphia
ABOUT THE CELTICS (7-14): Boston was outplayed and outhustled by the Knicks, which greatly disappointed coach Brad Stevens. “In basketball at this level or any level, the minute you feel sorry for yourself it’s going to snowball on you,” Stevens told reporters. “You have to earn things. You have to go out and do them.” Boston committed 17 turnovers against the Knicks while receiving strong efforts from forward Jeff Green (28 points) and center Tyler Zeller (19).
ABOUT THE 76ERS (2-21): Philadelphia is low on the talent scale and that has turned out to be a good thing for rookie Robert Covington. The former D-League player is showing he can score and his 24-point showing against the Grizzlies marked the fourth time in five games that he has scored 20 or more points. Covington has landed the trust of Brown, who has kept increasing his playing time and had him on the floor for 45 minutes (out of 53) against Memphis.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Celtics have lost four consecutive road games since the mid-November win in Philadelphia.
2. Sixers SG Hollis Thompson was 5-of-5 from 3-point range and matched his season high of 21 points in the 76ers’ loss to Memphis.
3. Boston G Marcus Smart (Achilles) will miss the contest while G Avery Bradley (fever) is expected to play.