Rajon Rondo was a point shy of a triple-double to lead the Boston Celtics to a 101-96 home victory over the Miami Heat on Wednesday night.
Rondo scored nine points, grabbed ten rebounds, and dished out 15 assists as the Celtics claimed the three-game regular-season series with a 2-1 record over the reigning champions, who played without LeBron James due to a back injury.
Avery Bradley led all scorers with 23 points for the Celtics who snapped a five-game losing streak.
Dwyane Wade led the Heat with 17 points, and Chris Andersen contributed 16 for Miami, which will host the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday.
The Philadelphia 76ers are one of the five teams, along with the Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers, Sacramento Kings and Utah Jazz, who have been eliminated from the playoffs contention in the past few days.
But, the Sixers’ season continues to get worse and worse as they lost their 17th straight home game, and 22nd overall of the season after a 102-94 defeat to the Chicago Bulls.
Should Philadelphia lose the next four games, they tie the NBA record for most consecutive losses in a single season, set by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2010-11 season.
D.J Augustin scored a team-high 20 points and Taj Gibson added 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for the Bulls (38-30), while Thaddeus Young finished with a game-high 24 points for Philadelphia.
