Despite disheartening defeat, there are benefits to being perfectly mediocre

Leading by 32 points in Boston on Friday night, the Spurs couldn’t lose. And even after surrendering the NBA’s biggest comeback in more than a decade, that remained true.

Such are the benefits of being perfectly mediocre.

There’s always a bright side.

This is not a phenomenon one should expect the fine basketball aficionados of

San Antonio to understand, much less accept right away. More than fans of any other franchise in major professional sports during the past three decades, they have been conditioned to believe that results always can be measured on the scoreboard, and that winning

76ers (42-21) at Spurs (31-31)

When/where: 7 p.m.; AT&T Center

TV/radio: Bally Sports Southwest; WOAI-AM 1200, KXTN-AM 1350 and FM 107.5 (Spanish)

PROBABLE STARTERS

76ers: PG Ben Simmons (6-9, 4th year), SG Seth Curry (6-0, 7th), SF Danny Green (6-6, 12th), PF Tobias Harris (6-7, 10th), C Joel Embiid (6-11, 5th)

Spurs: PG Dejounte Murray (6-4, 4th year), SG Devin Vassell (6-5,

1st), SF DeMar DeRozan (6-6, 12th), PF Keldon Johnson (6-5, 2nd), C Jakob Poeltl (7-1, 5th)

RESERVES

76ers: G George Hill (6-3, 13th year), C Dwight Howard (6-9, 17th), G Isaiah Joe (6-3, 1st year), Furkan Korkmaz(6-7, 4th), G Tyrese Maxey (6-1, 1st), G Shake Milton (6-5, 3rd), F Paul Reed (6-8, 1st), F Mike Scott (6-7, 9th), G Matisse Thybulle (6-5, 2nd), F Anthony Tolliver (6-8, 13th). Inactive: Mason Jones, Rayjon Tucker.

Spurs: G Patty Mills (6-1, 12th year), F Rudy Gay (6-8, 15th),

G/F Lonnie Walker IV (6-4, 3rd),

F/C Drew Eubanks (6-9, 3rd), C Gorgui Dieng (6-10, 8th), G Tre Jones (6-1, 1st), F Keita BatesDiop (6-8, 3rd), F Cameron Reynolds (6-7, 2nd), G Quinndary Weatherspoon (6-3, 2nd). Questionable: Murray (sore left knee). Inactive: Derrick White (right ankle sprain), Trey Lyles (right ankle sprain)

COACHES

76ers: Doc Rivers Spurs: Gregg Popovich

STAT LEADERS

Sixers: Points, Embiid, 29.2 per game; rebounds, Embiid, 10.8; assists, Simmons, 7.0; steals,

Simmons, Thybulle 1.6; blocks, Embiid, 1.4

Spurs: Points, DeRozan, 21.7 per game; rebounds, Poeltl, 8.0; assists, DeRozan, 7.4; steals, Murray, 1.6; blocks, Poeltl, 1.8

NOTABLE

» After a season-worst fourgame losing streak, the Sixers have won three in a row to pull within a half of game of Eastern Conference-leading Brooklyn. During the winning streak, Philadephia has held opponents to an average of 92.3 points per game while averaging 124.6 points. In two of their last three games, the Sixers have held foes to 90 points or less.

» Green is shooting 41.7 percent from 3-point territory to rank

33rd in the NBA. He averages 7.8 attempts per game. In the Sixers’ 134-99 win over the Spurs on March 14 in the teams’ first meeting this season, Green scored 16 points against his former team on 6-of-9 shooting, including 4 of 7 from beyond the arc.

» With 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting (3 of 3 from 3-point range), Gay in his 1,000th career game moved into 100th place on the NBA’s career scoring chart with 16,794.