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Sixers are crushed by the Spurs, 119-68

For Brett Brown, negotiating a contract extension with the 76ers was the good news. The bad news was the coach's squad suffered its fourth-worst loss in franchise history hours after the negotiations were revealed.

Jahlil Okafor tries to go for a loose ball with the Spurs' LaMarcus Aldridge and Matt Bonner.
Jahlil Okafor tries to go for a loose ball with the Spurs' LaMarcus Aldridge and Matt Bonner.Read more(Steven M. Falk/Staff Photographer)

For Brett Brown, negotiating a contract extension with the 76ers was the good news. The bad news was the coach's squad suffered its fourth-worst loss in franchise history hours after the negotiations were revealed.

The Spurs humiliated the Sixers, 119-68, Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center. The 51-point margin of defeat was their worst setback since losing, 123-70, at Dallas on Nov. 14, 2014.

Monday's loss dropped Brown's squad to 1-21 on the season. It was also their 10th straight series setback to San Antonio (18-4).

"I think it's the first time that I've been in front of you all, and I really don't have anything to say," Brown said after the setback.

"I think when you play as poorly as we did in front of our home crowd, that there are great lessons we can learn," he went on to say, "because that's embarrassing."

The outcome could have been worse, as the Spurs rested three key players.

Kawhi Leonard missed the game with a stomach flu. Tim Duncan was sidelined to rest. Manu Ginobili dressed for the game, but didn't play.

Unfortunately for the Sixers, LaMarcus Aldridge played.

The Spurs power forward finished with a game-high 26 points on 11-for-15 shooting. He also had a game-high nine rebounds. Seldom-used reserve Boban Marjanovic added 18 points, 12 more than his previous career high.

Robert Covington, Nerlens Noel, and Nik Stauskas all led the Sixers with 13 points apiece. Jahlil Okafor scored 10 points on 3-for-14 shooting in a reserve role during his first game back after serving a two-game suspension after a second video surfaced of him fighting with a heckler on a Boston street in the early hours of Nov. 26. He's also been dealing with an upper respiratory infection.

The Sixers shot 16.7 percent (4-for-24) on three-pointers.

But . . .

"This is where I want to be," Brown said before the game. "To go through what I've gone through the first two years and almost first third of the season coming up, and to not be so passionate about seeing this through, I think it would be naïve. It would not be true."

That feeling appears to be mutual, as Brown has been negotiating his contract with co-managing owner Josh Harris and David Blitzer and general manager Sam Hinkie.

"Brett has been a great partner for us," Hinkie said. "I hope and expect he'll continue to be."

kpompey@phillynews.com

@PompeyOnSixers

www.inquirer.com/deepsixer