BOSTON _ This was far from an ordinary Thursday for the 76ers.
Despite not being cleared to play, talk of Markelle Fultz's shot and practice performances dominated the morning shootaround media session at Equinox. Then during pregame, all the hoopla surrounded Joel Embiid being voted a 2018 NBA All-Star Game starter. And the Sixers finished the night by holding on to an 89-80 victory over the Boston Celtics at T.D. Garden.
The victory improved their record to 21-20 at the halfway point of the season. It also snapped a three-game skid to the Celtics (34-12), the Eastern Conference's best team. This also marked just the Sixers' second win in the teams' last 16 series meetings, dating back Nov. 19, 2014.
The win was their second straight against one of the conference's top teams. They defeated the East's second-ranked Toronto Raptors, 117-111, on Monday.
Thursday's game was interesting.
The Sixers had a commanding 21-point fourth-quarter cushion that was cut to seven points (86-79) with 2 minutes, 1 second remaining. However, T.J. McConnell sank a pair of foul shots with make it an 88-79 game with 31.7 seconds left.
Embiid showed why he was voted an All-Star starter.
The center had game highs of 24 points, 16 rebounds and six assists to go with a team-high two blocks. Dario Saric added 16 points, while reserve point guard T.J. McConnell had 15.
The Sixers were without two key players in starting shooting guard JJ Redick and reserve post player Richaun Holmes.
Redick is out with a partial fracture in the fibular head of his left leg. Meanwhile, Holmes missed his second straight game with gastroenteritis.
The Celtics were without point guard Kyrie Irving, who was voted an All-Star starter. He missed the game with a sore left shoulder.
Al Horford and Marcus Morris paced Boston with 14 points each.
However, the teams combined for 41 turnovers. The Sixers had 22, while Boston committed 19.
