Winless in nearly two months 76ers tie mark with 26th straight loss

HOUSTON(AP) – After the Philadelphia 76ers tied an NBA record with their 26th consecutive loss, one of their youngest voices spoke loudest.

Michael Carter-Williams, one of six rookies on the NBA’s youngest team, delivered a pep talk after James Harden’s triple-double led the Houston Rockets to a 120-98 victory in the NBA on Thursday night.

In other results, Portland smothered Atlanta, 100-85; the Los Angeles Clippers thwarted the Dallas Mavericks, 109-103; and the Milwaukee Bucks held off the Los Angeles Lakers, 108-105.

“During the game a couple of guys had long faces ... and I found myself a little bit down,” said Carter-Williams, who had 10 assists. “I just don’t want anyone in this locker room feeling bad for themselves ... I think that’s really important that we don’t get down on ourselves and we just give up just because we have a certain amount of losses.

“I just felt like I needed to speak my piece and make sure that guys are upbeat every single day.”

Philadelphia coach Brett Brown was impressed by the leadership the 22-year-old Carter-Williams showed.

“He never would have done that two months ago,” Brown said. “He wouldn’t have done it two weeks ago. All these things, all these small wins we find along the way, that’s our road map this year. And life moves on. The group will stay together and we will finish this thing out together.”

Harden had 26 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in three quarters for his second career triple-double as Houston picked up its fifth straight victory.

“We did a great job of coming out tonight and taking care of business,” Harden said. “No matter what their record was, we knew they were going to come here and play hard.”

The 76ers (15-57) stuck around early before a big second-quarter run allowed the Rockets to pull away and roll to the win. Philadelphia moved within a game of Milwaukee for the league’s worst record.

Philadelphia matched the 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers for the NBA’s worst skid and can set the record at home against Detroit on Saturday.

“We move on,” Brown said. “We are on a different path. We see this whole thing through a far different lens.”

James Anderson led the Sixers with 30 points and made six 3-pointers.

The Sixers haven’t won since Jan. 29 and are two games away from going winless in two straight months. There was very little visible emotion as the final seconds ticked away and the players slowly made their way off the court.