PHILADELPHIA – After months of reflection and time to think, Brad Stevens sat at the podium on media day in late September and fielded more questions about the franchise-altering trade that sent Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers for two first-round picks and two second-round picks.
“You have to make decisions that you think, with all the information that you have, are good for your group,” Stevens said. “And give yourself a chance to be good in the short term, and to maximize your opportunities in the long term. There are hard decisions that have to come along the way to do that, and whether they’re right or wrong, we’ll see.”
It’s far too early to determine whether Stevens made the right call. But in the first meeting between the teams, a matchup that had the makings of a playoff preview between two Eastern Conference contenders, his Celtics won the first round decisively.
Boston entered a hostile Xfinity Mobile Arena, where the home crowd clearly rallied behind one of its new stars, Jaylen Brown, and his beef lamb chops and gravy with his former sidekick, Jayson Tatum.
The boos rained down as the Celtics took the floor. They continued through pregame introductions, with the crowd loudly yelling “sucks!” after each Celtics starter was announced. And they carried over into the game, erupting nearly every time Tatum touched the ball, at least in the first half.
“I made a joke, I walked out, and I couldn't tell if it was November 10th or June 10th,” Tatum said. “It felt like a f—ing Finals game.”
The Celtics, however, were unfazed by the hostile reception or the attention surrounding the Tatum-Brown storyline.
Aside from an awkward pregame interaction, the highly anticipated reunion produced little in the way of fireworks. Brown finished with a season-low 13 points, five rebounds, two assists, and four turnovers. Foul trouble further limited his impact, keeping him on the bench for all but 9:46 of the second half. His minus-27 was the worst mark of any player in the game.
The action on the court, however, told a different story.
Boston delivered about as emphatic an early-season statement as it could have. The Celtics walked into Philadelphia, which entered the night atop the Eastern Conference, and handed the 76ers their most lopsided home loss of the season. The 123-101 victory dropped Philadelphia from first place and moved Boston into the conference lead, at least temporarily.
The performance was fueled by Boston's new-look duo of Tatum and George, who offered another glimpse of how effective they can be playing alongside one another.
Tatum continued to excel in his off-ball role, finishing with 21 points (8-of-17 FG, 3-of-7 3PT), six rebounds, four assists, and two blocked shots. George, meanwhile, who was somewhat of a subplot to the night's main attraction, the Tatum-Brown storyline, took center stage in his first game back in Philadelphia.
George finished with a game-high 36 points (14-of-22 FG, 6-of-11 3PT), five rebounds and an assist. He also benefited from two assists from Tatum, offering another example of the chemistry the two are beginning to develop. His 36 points were more than he had scored in any of his 40 games at Xfinity Mobile Arena, formerly known as the Wells Fargo Center, during his two seasons in Philadelphia.
After that performance, it was fair to wonder whether George had any extra motivation to make a statement against his former team. Did he feel the need to do so in his first game against the 76ers?
“Nah. My job is to come in and support JT and be the best version that I can be for him,” George said. “That was my only focus.”
George is one of three Eastern Conference players with multiple 35-point games this season, joining Tatum and Giannis Antetokounmpo. All three have two. In just 10 games with the Celtics, George has already matched the number of 35-point performances he recorded across two seasons in Philadelphia.
It’s been a near-perfect fit, beyond the scoring.
Not only has George helped Tatum find another gear, but he's helped bring out the best in the Celtics on both ends of the floor. He's played at an All-Star level through his first 10 games as a Celtic, setting the tone defensively while providing a reliable scoring option. He's averaging 22.0 points (48.8% FG, 44.0% 3PT), 5.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 2.8 steals.
That impact has been particularly evident when Tatum leaves the floor. George has given the Celtics a dependable option to lead the offense in those stretches, and Tuesday night was another example. To open the fourth quarter, with Tatum on the bench, George spearheaded a 14-0 run over 4:06 that turned Boston's nine-point lead into a 23-point advantage. He scored eight of the Celtics' 14 points during the stretch, and Philadelphia never got the deficit back below 20.
In the 32 minutes George has played with Tatum off the floor this season, the Celtics have posted a ridiculous +57.1 net rating, a 141.3 offensive rating, and an 84.1 defensive rating. The numbers are dominant and, frankly, absurd.
“Those are the minutes that I'm always trying to win to give him as much rest as possible, to where when he comes in, it's no pressure that he has to kind of get the game back under control,” George said. “He can come back and kind of float, get himself back going. So those minutes are very important to me, and I definitely value that opportunity of being on the floor, and try to lead my way.”
The Celtics are a connected team, playing a style of basketball that accentuates the players on the roster.
There is still a long way to go, and it could take years for the full picture to come into focus. But the early returns are encouraging. Round one was a knockout victory for Stevens and the Celtics, who are already seeing the results of his work, both on and off the court.
“I think it starts from the top, and you’ve got to give credit to Brad. He picks really good people to be a part of it. It's not just about basketball. It's the type of person they are," Payton Pritchard said. "We have a great group. Everybody enjoys being around each other. That makes a difference. You want to see the next man win. We want to see PG kill. We want to see JT go off. Like, it really matters. Everybody's gonna have their nights, and we love to see it.”
