(AP)

BOSTON – Maybe the 76ers circulated a memo throughout the locker room. Maybe they convened before Friday’s game, a 111-102 win over the Boston Celtics, and agreed upon a singular word to best describe Henry Sims.

“Aggressive,” Sixers coach Brett Brown said, carefully selecting the identical adjective that two others in the locker room had used in regard to Sims.

The Sixers big man scored a career-high 24 points and added nine rebounds in the team’s victory, their second in four games. Tonight, against visiting Brooklyn, they’ll go for their first winning streak since claiming four straight from Dec. 29 through Jan. 4.

The most-telling stat for Sims, beyond his point total, were his attempts from the foul line. The 6-10, 248-pounder went 14-for-18 at the foul line, including a 6-for-6 effort in the fourth quarter.

“He was in a bull mode, a really aggressive attack mode,” Brown said of Sims, who came to the Sixers as part of the trade-deadline deal that cast off Spencer Hawes. “He’d bury his head and try to get to the rim at all costs. In the first half, I thought he’d rush things when he was at a block. When he turns and faces things, he can catch and go, and play out of a dribble-handoff game at the top of the key area. He has a surprising first step and a fantastic mentality. With that it produced an aggression attack.”

Sims has been on a roll of late. He’s had a double-figure scoring total in seven of his last eight games, during which he’s also had two 20-point games. He’s also been a 77.3-percent shooter from the free-throw line. Not bad for a guy who shot 57.1 percent while with Cleveland.

When asked whether he’d ever had 18 attempts from the foul line in a single game at any level, Sims said no. (“If I did, I’d have had 40 (points),” he said.)

“Better opportunity here. More shots going up, more opportunities to get to the line,” Sims said. “I feel like I’m playing my game and Coach notices it. I’m still coming in every day, defensively and rebounding. Those are the two big things for me. Everything else is just extra.”

Thaddeus Young is seeing what Sims is doing.

“Very aggressive,” Young said, electing to use the operative word. “He went out there and played really, really aggressive. That’s the Henry I like to see all the time. When he’s aggressive, he’s always in attack mode. I encourage him all of the time to just continue to stay aggressive and be confident within yourself.”

Another standout from the win over the Celtics was Elliot Williams.

The reserve guard scored 15 points on 5-for-7 shooting overall and a 2-for-3 effort from 3-point range in 26 minutes. In his last 10 outings, Williams has shined. He’s averaged 8.4 points in 21.1 minutes per game, while shooting .484 from the field. Then compare those numbers against his season totals: 61 appearances, 5.6 points, 16.5 minutes, .396 field-goal percentage.

(AP)

BOSTON – 76ers rookie Nerlens Noel will not dress for Friday’s game against the Boston Celtics, Sixers coach Brett Brown said after morning shootaround.

Despite an ominous tweet from Noel last month of this date, “4-4-14,” and the subsequent speculation that the Boston-area native would prefer to debut at TD Garden, the 6-11, 230-pound center won’t be in uniform.

Brown noted once more the competitive nature of Noel, a player who is likely champing at the bit to see game time for the first time in 14 months. He has not played competitively since tearing the ACL in his left knee during his freshman season at Kentucky.

“Nerlens, as I’ve learned, is just beyond competitive. It’s the single thing I’ve fallen in love with the most,” Brown said. “His athleticism is quite incredible. His future, and his hair, are quite incredible. But his competitive spirit is beyond attractive to me.

“He’s trying. He wants to play. There are so many layers he has to get through to where we can put him in a position where we feel responsible that he can perform and not be at risk. To go through this duration that we’ve all gone through and be anything less than responsible and smart would just be shameful. Nerlens is simply not ready. And that’s the lay of the land right now.”

The Sixers have only seven games remaining, including Friday's against the Celtics.

BOSTON -- The Sixers have signed Casper Ware to a second 10-day deal, the team announced.

Ware has averaged 3.6 points, 1.2 assists and 1.2 rebounds in 14.2 minutes over five appearances for the Sixers, who signed him out of Italy’s first division late last month.

When asked Wednesday about his future with the Sixers, Ware sounded ambivalent. He said the idea of flying to his home country for his first chance at playing in the NBA was a lot to digest.

“You’ve got 10 days to come out here and show what you’ve got,” Ware said. “You just try to listen to what they say and take it all in. You have to do it right and the right way.”

The 5-10, 170-pounder’s latest contract will take him to April 12, four days and two games shy of the season finale at Miami. At that point, the Sixers could opt to let him go or sign him for the remainder of the season.

The Sixers play Friday night at Boston.

(AP)

Injured guard Jason Richardson is getting his first taste of on-court activity in 12 months, and said he’s looking toward mid-March as a possible return date for the 76ers.

Richardson, who underwent left knee surgery Feb. 19, 2013, started taking short jumpers Monday. He’s doing that an hour a day for one to two weeks. If that goes well, and without incident, he’ll graduate to sliding and shooting, catching and shooting and beyond.

As for the 32-year-old’s role when he returns…

“Player/coach,” Richardson said Wednesday, before the Sixers hosted Boston. “I’ve been through everything and had a long career. Scoring doesn’t matter to me. It’s all about winning. When you’re on a young team like this, it’s all about teaching. Coaching might be something I want to get into when my career is over. What better way to start than while you’re playing?”

That's a good thing, too, because his play declined as last season wore on.

Richardson, who was traded to Philly in August 2012, in the same four-team deal that netted Andrew Bynum, averaged 10.5 points and shot 40.2 percent overall in 33 games last season. He’s due $6.2 million this season and holds a $6.6 million player option (wh

ich he’s likely to pick up) for the 2014-15 season.

The elder statesman of the Sixers, Richardson said he has a voice in the locker room, but that his teammates “get tired of listening to me.” He said he’d like to play “until I’m 50” if he can, but that he’s not willing to chase a championship before his playing career comes to a close.

“That’s one thing I’ve always wanted to do, is win a championship, ever since I was a young guy in this league,” Richardson said, “but I won’t chase a championship. I won’t do it. I don’t think, to me personally, that’s the right way to do it. Even though you want one, I would never hop teams to chase one.”

(AP)

BOSTON – The 76ers found a way to end their three-game losing streak, and it wasn’t at the free-throw line.

Evan Turner drove the lane and hoisted a six-footer in traffic for the game-winning bucket as time expired, helping the Sixers beat the Boston Celtics, 95-94, Wednesday night at TD Garden.

The Sixers were woeful at the foul line, shooting 14-for-25 overall and 4-for-10 in the fourth quarter.

In the end, the Sixers (15-31) held off the Celtics (15-33) to win for only the third time in 13 games. But, Turner wondered, at what expense?

“We’ve got to finish those free throws and make it easy on us,” Turner said. “When Coach (Brett) Brown took the job, he was a sandy blond. Now he’s a gray-haired man. We can’t be ruining his time.”

The Sixers will not practice Thursday, before hosting Atlanta Friday.