PHILADELPHIA _ The 76ers defeated the team they aspire to be like in the future.
They took a 105-99 victory Sunday afternoon over the Boston Celtics at the Wells Fargo Center. This was their second straight victory after losing five of the previous six games. The Sixers (26-43) snapped a 10-game series skid to Boston (44-26).
Dario Saric paced the Sixers with 23 points to extend his streak of consecutive double-digit scoring games to 19. Robert Covington added 16 points and two steals, while Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot added 13 points.
Saric gave the Sixers a five-point cushion (100-95) with 59.6 seconds left. Marcus Smith scored on the ensuing possession to cut the lead to three. But Nik Stauskas responded with a 3-pointer with 38.8 seconds left to make it 103-97.
Jae Crowder and Marcus Smart both missed 3-point attempts on Boston's next possession before Richaun Holmes grabbed the defensive rebound. Then Gerald Henderson hit a pair of shots to make it a 105-97 game with 27.6 seconds left.
This was a solid win over the Eastern Conference's second-best team.
However, both squads were among the league's worst teams back during the 2013-14 season. But while the Celtics made stellar roster moves, the Sixers continued to tank over the next seasons. As a result, the franchises have completely different realities.
The Celtics are one of the NBA's elite teams. The Sixers fight hard and can't be overlooked. However, they are still rebuilding and are hampered by injuries. Jahlil Okafor sat out the second half of Sunday's game with right knee soreness. The center has missed six games with the knee soreness. The Sixers only finished with the game with nine healthy bodies.
Reserve swingman Justin Anderson missed the game with gastroenteritis. He's doubtful for Monday's game against the Orlando Magic at the Amway Center. Joel Embiid (knee), Ben Simmons (foot), Jerryd Bayless (wrist) and Tiago Splitter (calf) also have been out for quite some time. Splitter, acquired in a trade on Feb. 22 from the Atlanta Hawks, is expected to make his Sixers' debut at the end of the month.
The Celtics were without all-star point guard Isaiah Thomas. Center Al Horford took up some of his slack. The center, acquired in free agency this past summer, finished with a season-high 27 points on 11-for-16 shooting.
Jae Crowder had 15 points and Avery Bradley finished with 13. Reserves Terry Rozier (14 points) and Kelly Olynyk (12) were Boston's other double-digit scores.
"I respect the job that Danny and Brad has done together," Sixers coach Brett Brown said before the game of Celtics general manager Danny Ainge of coach Bred Stevens "And I think that there starting point was way further along, and they've taking that and made it better and better and better."
Brown acknowledged that the Sixers have "far more capable bodies and players than can move forward" with then in season's past. However, he wouldn't get ahead of himself. The coach knows that Celtics have their core pieces in place while the Sixers are trying to get there.
"I think that's too a little arrogant for me to go there," Brown said. "We're unknown. Nobody knows about Ben Simmons. We think we know about Joel. We're learning about Dario. They've done it. It's completely not fair for me to see that."
