Bass leads Celtics past winless Sixers, 101-90

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Brandon Bass scored 23 points, Jared Sullinger added 22 and the Boston Celtics sent Philadelphia to its 11th straight loss to start the season with a 101-90 victory over the 76ers on Wednesday night.

Rajon Rondo had 13 assists with nine points, and Jeff Green chipped in 11 points for the Celtics (4-6), who snapped a three-game losing streak.

Tony Wroten led five 76ers in double figures with 21 points. Philadelphia (0-11) is seven defeats from tying the 2009-10 Nets for the worst start in NBA history.

Boston, which entered third-worst in the league at 109.4 points allowed per game, was even worse on its recent skid (116.3). But the Celtics held the struggling 76ers to a season low in points.

The Celtics took control midway through the third quarter when they broke a 54-all tie with seven straight points. Rondo started the run with an alley-oop pass to Green for a backward dunk, followed by Rondo's over-the-shoulder, no-look pass to Avery Bradley for a jumper.

Bradley finished the spurt with a 3-pointer.

Wroten pulled Philadelphia to 73-68 at the end of the period by hitting a running, 38-footer at the buzzer.

But the Celtics opened the fourth on a 6-0 run with Kelly Olynyk's dunk, Phil Pressey's runner and two free throws by Evan Turner to take their largest lead to that point, 79-68, with 10:21 remaining.

The double-digit advantage was too much for the offensively challenged 76ers to overcome.

Philadelphia entered last in the NBA in scoring (88.5 points per game) and field-goal percentage (40.3 percent).

The 76ers led by as many as nine and jumped out to a 27-22 lead after the first quarter behind Luc Mbah a Moute's seven points. But they managed only 19 second-quarter points, and the teams entered halftime tied at 46.

It's been a difficult start for the Sixers - and particularly bad of late. They lost 88-87 to Houston last Friday but were beaten by an average of 36.7 points in their other three most recent defeats: at Toronto, at Dallas and at San Antonio.

The 76ers had success against Boston last season when they won just 19 games, taking three of four from the Celtics.

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TIP-INS

Celtics: Turner was booed by Philadelphia fans each time he checked in and every time he had the ball. The second overall pick in the 2010 draft, Turner was making his first appearance at the Wells Fargo Center since being traded to Indiana last season.

76ers: Philadelphia is the fourth NBA team to start a season with 10 losses and the first since Washington began the 2012-13 campaign with 12 straight defeats.

UP NEXT

Philadelphia hosts Phoenix on Friday night.

Boston plays at Memphis on Friday night.

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