PHILADELPHIA – Everyone was busy worrying about how Jaylen Brown would look in his first game as a 76er against the Boston Celtics.
Too many people forgot about the guy he was traded for. Certainly, the 76ers defense did, and far too often.
Paul George punished his old team, going off for 36 points with six made 3-pointers as the Celtics pulled away for a 123-101 win Tuesday night.
George was the best player on the floor, a plus-17 in 30 minutes at the arena he called home for the last two years before being dealt to Boston with four draft picks for Brown. He was 14-for-22 from the field and contributed to the Celtics shooting 22-for-49 (44.9 percent) from 3-point range.
George had said Tuesday morning that it was “just a regular game” for him, against a roster of players to whom he remains close in a city where he recognizes injuries meant an eight-figure deal didn’t work out. He clearly enjoyed his first trip back.
“It was fun,” George said. “It was fun to play in this.”
“He played well,” Joel Embiid said of his former teammate. “He came in here and that’s what he’s been doing all season. He’s healthy, he’s in a good space mentally. He’s been playing well all season and he just did what he’s been doing all season.”
It’s George’s second 30-point game as a Celtic after 38 on opening night. He had six 30-point games in two seasons as a 76er, in which he played just 78 regular-season games and 11 in the playoffs.
Brown, on the other hand, was invisible. He picked up three fouls in the first half, then a soft fourth early in the third. He finished with 13 points on 4-for-9 shooting, five rebounds, four turnovers and a whopping minus-27 in 26 minutes.
“Got into some early foul trouble, but no excuse,” Brown said. “I think we got outplayed tonight. They executed, shot the hell out of the ball.”
All eyes were on how Brown would react to the team that dealt him away after nine seasons. It’s been a frosty fall between him and former running mate Jayson Tatum, the pair having led the Celtics to the NBA title in 2024, with Brown as the finals MVP. Brown was miffed that he was dangled in trade talks, then got dealt out of town and said he hadn’t talked with Tatum since the trade.
As the erstwhile teammates waited for tipoff Tuesday and players on two rosters very familiar with one another exchanged pleasantries, Brown shrugged off a hug or handshake attempt by Tatum.
“I’m just focused on coming out and doing what’s best for my team,” he said, shrugging off the question. “Everything else was just — to be honest, I wasn’t paying attention. But credit to Jayson. He played well tonight. Credit to the Celtics, they executed, shot the hell out of the ball, and they were the better team tonight.”
“No headlines about anything like that,” said Tatum, who scored 13 of his 21 points in the first half. “”I was just getting ready for the game, ready for jump ball, go out there, compete, have some fun, and try to get a win.”
In the rematch of last year’s first-round series, the developmental trajectories of each offense were clear. The Sixers had just 51 points at halftime, an acceleration from the 34 at which they were stuck midway through the frame. Shots didn’t fall, finishing 11-for-37 from 3-point range despite some good looks.
Embiid continued his recent struggles, going 2-for-9 from the field for 16 points and six rebounds in 31 minutes. He did hit a 3-pointer, snapping a streak of 22 straight misses from deep.
“Obviously not making shots has a little bit to do with that, but it’s the same thing,” Embiid said. “Like I said from Game 1, we’ve got a long way to go, especially offensively. We’ve just got to find ways to keep getting better and learn from it.”
Tyrese Maxey led the way with 24 points. LeBron James had 11 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Anfernee Simons had 17 off the bench, though many were in garbage time.
The Celtics, meanwhile, know exactly what button to press for easy offense: They’re going to generate 3-point looks aplenty, and they’re going to make a bunch of them. The 76ers tied the game twice in the third – on a Dean Wade 3-pointer at 76-all, then after a Payton Pritchard make, with a Maxey triple at 79-all.
But the Celtics turned on the after boosters, with 3-pointers on five consecutive possessions. They hit six straight longballs at one point and went 9:22 between two-point makes but made nine 3-pointers in that time to build the lead from six points to 18.
“They kind of made them in every way,” coach Nick Nurse said. “They came off some ball screens and hit them. They had several where they were just kind of looking us in the eyeballs and raised up and hit them. They obviously had some where I think they just kind of out physicaled us. They just kind of went in and made a move and made some contact and made separation and the ball found them and they were open. They made a lot of open ones.”
Pritchard hit four for his 18 points. Sam Hauser canned four for all 12 of his points. Hugo Gonzalez added two for 10 points.
Pritchard hit two straight to start the fourth, then George canned a triple before his and-1 on a drive at 8:44 ended the 3-point exclusivity, leaving the Celtics with a 21-point lead. He buried his fifth and sixth 3-pointers of the night ahead of the 6-minute timeout, putting the Celtics up 24 and triggering Nurse to empty the bench.
That was a chance for George to pound his chest in celebration. Postgame, he downplayed it being anything other than the reaction to winning a game for his new team – against any team.
“The majority of those guys on the other side, those are brothers,” he said. “It’s more, I would’ve done that against anyone. We put them away. That was kind of a dagger shot to seal the game.”