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.

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.

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.

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,

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.

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.

If the Celtics can figure out how to build on that performance, they could be a sleeper team in the Eastern Conference, despite all of the cost-cutting moves the front office made during the summer. In a recent episode of the "Hoops Tonight" podcast,

For the first time since the 2013-14 season, the Boston Celtics have opened their campaign with three straight losses. Their latest setback, a 119-113 defeat to the Detroit Pistons on Sunday, has left the team searching for answers and perspective after a surprisingly sluggish start.

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