It seemed possible that Scheierman might have a tough battle ahead of him to get back on the court with Boston early in the start to the season, and such dynamics do not exactly lend themselves to the sort of confident play needed to snap whatever errors were keeping the Hastings,

The Boston Celtics handed the Philadelphia 76ers their first loss of the season and delivered a wire-to-wire reminder of their resilience, edging out a tense 109-108 victory to open NBA Cup play on Friday night.

Houston outscored the Celtics in all four quarters, owned a 53-36 edge in rebounds and attempted 35 foul shots to Boston’s seven. The Rockets also shot 65.5% from 3-point range and blocked 11 shots, both the best marks by a Celtics opponent this season.

During his time suiting up for the Celtics, Hamer wore only jersey No. 42 and put up 2.2 points and 1.7 rebounds per game.

Kevin Durant scored 26 points in three quarters before resting the fourth, Amen Thompson added 17 points and nine rebounds, and the Houston Rockets beat the Boston Celtics 128-101 on Saturday night.

The former Celtics big man will have to work his way into Portland’s rotation. The Blazers have leaned on Donovan Clingan as their starter thus far, with Duop Reath and first-round pick Yang Hansen coming off the bench. It’s unclear how Williams fits in the front court, but getting him back on the court is still a positive sign.

Nevertheless, the Celtics must make do with what they're working with. After all, there's no single trade that could suddenly get the team back on track. In truth, it may take a year or two before Mazzulla is coaching a contending-level roster again.

Magic Johnson has heard all the chatter that the back-to-back World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers are hurting the sport, but he had no issue dismissing those criticisms.

Rockets guard Amen Thompson had a strong game at both ends Saturday as Houston throttled Boston for its third straight victory.