LONDON _ The 76ers have seen this movie before.
What happened Thursday afternoon at the 02 Arena was a re-run. The Sixers jumped out to a sizable lead against an elite team. Then they watched it gradually slip away in a loss. This time, it happened in a 114-103 NBA London decision to the Boston Celtics.
The Sixers (19-20) blew a 22-point second-quarter lead against the Celtics en route to having their four-game winning streak snapped. Boston (34-10) took its first lead of the game, 69-68, on Daniel Theis' dunk with six minutes left in third quarter. They didn't look back. The Celtics went on to lead by as many as 19 points en route to an 11-point win.
In all, the Sixers were outscored 87-54 after holding a 49-27 advantage with 6 minutes, 56 seconds left before intermission.
JJ Redick led all scorers with 22 points in the losing effort. Jaylen Brown paced the Celtics with 21 points.
The game also had a heated exchange.
Celtics forward Marcus Morris went after Ben Simmons with 4:48 left to play in the fourth quarter. Simmons set a hard screen on the North Philly native, knocking him to the court. Morris got up, shoved Simmons and had to be separated from the Sixers rookie. Simmons was called for a foul on the play while Morris received a technical for his actions.
But the end result was all too familiar for the Sixers.
They blew an 18-point lead en route to losing to the Portland Trail Blazers on Dec. 28. Seven days before, they surrendered a 22-point, third-quarter advantage in a loss to the Toronto Raptors. And they blew a 24-point halftime lead before falling to the Golden State Warriors on Nov. 18.
In all, the Sixers have lost seven games in which they led by 11 points or more. Meanwhile, the Celtics extended their winning streak to seven games.
In the second quarter, the NBA introduced a few of their former greats in the Celtics' Robert Parish, Richard "Rip" Hamilton, former Sixers Andre Miller and Dikembe Mutombo, and Brit John Amaechi, who is a Penn State graduate. Amaechi is an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to sport and the voluntary sector.
