76ers at Celtics
The Boston Celtics are winners of eight of their last 10 games and are beginning to expect success but still find ways to manufacture an edge when necessary. Irritable small forward Jae Crowder and the Celtics will try to push their latest winning streak to three straight when they host the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday.
Crowder expressed his
displeasure with Boston fans cheering potential free-agent swingman
Gordon Hayward in a win over Utah on Tuesday. "I heard the cheering
before the game. I didn't like that at all," Crowder, who plays the same
position as Hayward and scored 21 points in the 115-104 triumph, told
reporters. "I think that was a sign of disrespect to me from the fans.
That sparked a little fire in me. I just felt disrespected." The 76ers
don't have an impending free agent likely to draw cheers from the Boston
crowd on Friday, but they do have an exciting young roster that is
learning how to win. Philadelphia squandered a 26-point lead at
Minnesota on Tuesday but won on Robert Covington's buzzer-beater and can
post its first three-game winning streak of the season with a win on
Friday.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, CSN Philadelphia, CSN New England (Boston)
ABOUT THE 76ERS (9-24): Philadelphia pulled out a 124-122 win at Denver last Friday and followed it up with the 93-91 triumph on Tuesday. “We are still learning,” center Joel Embiid, who took home his second Rookie of the Month award earlier this week, told reporters after the win over Minnesota. "I thought this game shouldn’t have been close. We have to do a better job not letting the other team come back, but it is a learning experience, and the last two games we got wins." Embiid is averaging 25 points in his last four games and is the first 76ers rookie since Allen Iverson in 1996 to total at least 100 points and 25 rebounds in a four-game span, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
ABOUT THE CELTICS (21-14): Boston point guard Isaiah Thomas gets nothing but love from the Boston fans and showed off his full skillset in the last two games - scoring a career-best 52 points in a 117-114 win over the Miami Heat and following it up with a career-high 15 assists in Tuesday's win over the Jazz. "I really do think he has eyes on the back of his head. I think he can actually see behind him," Celtics rookie Jaylen Brown told the team's website of Thomas. "Sometimes when he’s in the paint with the trees, and he just whips it out to the 3-point line, it’s like, ‘How did he see that?’ I think he has eyes in the back of his head." Thomas leads the team in scoring (27.8 points) and assists (6.4) and is 14-of-21 from 3-point range in the last two games.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. 76ers SG Gerald Henderson (hip) and PG Sergio Rodriguez (ankle) are questionable.
2. Celtics C Al Horford is 17-of-28 from the floor, including 6-of-12 from 3-point range, in the last two games.
3. Boston took the last nine in the series, including a 107-106 win at Philadelphia on Dec. 3.