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Boston has been
able to climb into the eighth playoff spot by beating teams that aren't at full
strength.
The Celtics will look to remain in the final spot when they visit the Nets on
Monday.
Boston, which has won 10 of its last 14 games, beat short-handed New Jersey at home on Friday before routing Philadelphia 89-65 on Sunday.
``They looked a little tired,'' Boston coach John Carroll said. ``They missed some good shots early and I think it just kind of fed into what was going on.''
The Celtics held
the 76ers to just 23 points in the first half and 27 percent shooting for the
game.
``Credit our defense. I thought we did a good job scrambling,'' said Paul Pierce
who scored 11 points in just 27 minutes as Carroll gave his starters extra rest.
``We just caught them on a bad night.''
It also helped that Philadelphia was still missing Allen Iverson. It was the second straight game, the Celtics faced a team without two of its best players. They beat New Jersey on Friday night 102-93 when Jason Kidd and Kenyon Martin were sidelined.
The Nets followed up that defeat with a 107-104 to Cleveland on Saturday night.
New Jersey took a 104-99 lead when Richard Jefferson was fouled on a drive, missed the free throw on a potential three-point play and Rodney Rogers put in the rebound. However, they couldn't hold on, and lost for the fourth time in five games without Kidd and Martin.
Kidd has a bone bruise in his left knee and Martin has left knee tendinitis.
Jefferson had a season-high 35 points on 12 of 20 shooting, but the Nets had no answer for LeBron James, who had a career-high 41 points.
``Regardless of his age, he's a special player,'' Nets coach Lawrence Frank said. ``He obviously had a great sense of urgency.''