An uncharacteristically poor defensive night cost the Boston Celtics during their Christmas Day loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. Joe Mazzulla's team has been inconsistent on the defensive side of the floor all season despite consistently rising defensive rating rankings.

As a dangerous January schedule looms, Boston hasn't been playing up to its standard recently, falling 4 games out of first in the East.

But Maxey zipped past Pritchard and found a clear lane to the basket, where he put in an off-balance layup just before time expired. The play all but finished off the Celtics in this 118-114 loss, and it was an example of the uncharacteristic missteps that doomed them.

The Boston Celtics couldn't complete the comeback at home, falling 118-114 to the rival Philadelphia 76ers on Christmas

As Joel Embiid writhed in pain on the ground, a cohort of Sixers staffers stared in disbelief. The game hadn’t even started yet. It was just warmups. But somehow, Embiid managed to stumble on a security guard’s foot and twist his ankle less than an hour before the 76ers’ Christmas Day game against the Celtics.