The battle of the Jays made the headlines, but Paul George seized the spotlight in his return to Philly.
The Boston Celtics handily beat the Philadelphia 76ers 123-101 behind George’s 36 points, as he rattled off shot after shot against his former team. Boston’s depth also put on a show against the Sixers, as 8 players hit at least 1 three-pointer.
It was the first of four regular season games between Boston and Philly this year and, other than the 2023 NBA All-Star Game, the first time the Jays have
squared off as opponents. The teams’ next matchup won’t be until Jan. 21, when they will square off in TD Garden.
Boston’s starting squad included Derrick White, Jordan Walsh, Paul George, Jayson Tatum, and Neemias Queta. The team’s injury report was clear.
Philly’s starters included Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Jaylen Brown, LeBron James, and Joel Embiid. Adem Bona and Dominick Barlow were out with injuries.
George opened up the action for Boston with the team’s first 4 points, as he capitalized early on his advantageous matchup against Edgecombe. Less than 3 minutes into the game, we got our first glimpse of the head-to-head between the Jays. Tatum was guarding Brown and forced a turnover with some fast hands, then got an easy dunk and a cutting layup on back-to-back plays.
Brown got his first points of the game on a pair of free throws about 4 minutes in, but Maxey led the way early for the Sixers. He had 8 of the Sixers’ first 12 points. Nevertheless, the Celtics had an 18-12 lead after 5 minutes and started off shooting 8-10 from the floor.
White had a nice redemption play about halfway through the quarter, where he got back in position after losing a turnover and drew a charge on Brown, who took the ball hard to the paint. The Jays starred on the next two plays, as Tatum hit a slick step back three-pointer that was followed up with a ferocious dunk by Brown.
Mitchell Robinson also put in some good work early on, battling with Embiid down low and grabbing 3 rebounds (one of which resulted in a scrappy putback) in less than 5 minutes of play time. However, he fouled Embiid on a three-pointer with less than 3 minutes to go in the quarter, which led Head Coach Joe Mazzulla to sub him out for Queta.
Luckily, Embiid hit only 1-3 free throws, and Boston rattled off a pair of layups to go up 30-21 with 26 seconds to go in the quarter, which ended with a missed Payton Pritchard three-pointer at the buzzer. The frame ended with the C’s up 30-23.
Both teams came out firing in the second quarter. Almost five minutes into the frame, the Celtics had scored 15 points and the Sixers tallied 11 of their own. Other than a lone Luka Garza bucket, all of Boston’s offense came from Pritchard and George, who were red hot to open the quarter. With 7:21 to go, the C’s had taken a 45-34 lead.
Both teams cooled off a bit about halfway through the quarter. Maxey kept Philly’s offense chugging along, but the Celtics took a 54-40 lead with the help of a few three-pointers (2 from Sam Hauser and 1 from Hugo Gonzalez). George’s hot streak continued, as he came out of a timeout, rebounded his own miss for a bucket, then knocked down a free throw to complete the and-1 play. He also hit a three-pointer about a minute later to put the C’s up 62-47.
The Sixers scored the last 4 points of the half, leaving the Celtics with a 62-51 lead after two quarters.
At the half, George led the C’s in scoring with 17 points on 63.6% shooting from the field. He also had 4 rebounds and 1 assist.
Tatum was Boston’s second leading scorer, with 13 points, 4 rebounds and a block.
For the Sixers, Maxey led the way with 12 points, while Embiid had 9 points (entirely from free throws, as he was 0-6 from the field).
Brown had 8 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 3 turnovers at the half.
Embiid hit his fourth three-pointer of the season (and the first in 7 games) to open the second half, but Tatum came back and hit a three-pointer of his own soon after. Brown also tallied his fourth foul of the game early in the quarter. However, it was the Sixers who came out with more momentum. With the help of a LeBron three-pointer, a ridiculous circus shot by Edgecombe to score over Queta, and a Maxey layup, Philly went on a 7-0 run to cut Boston’s lead to 69-63.
Following a Celtics timeout, Queta cut to the rim for an easy bucket on a dime from Tatum. It was Tatum’s first assist of the game. Tatum also had what might have been the play of the game soon after, as he blocked an Edgecombe layup and flew down the court for a thunderous poster dunk on LeBron. Nevertheless, the Sixers kept chipping away, and underrated Celtics killer Dean Wade hit a 26-footer to tie the game up at 76 apiece with about 4 minutes left in the quarter.
Following a timeout, the momentum changed hands again. Pritchard and Maxey went back-to-back-to-back in a three-point shooting exchange. Hauser hit another soon after to put the C’s up 85-79. That wasn’t the end of the three-point shooting display, though. After the Celtics forced a shot clock violation, Tatum, Maxey, and Scheierman hit 3 three-pointers in a row.
By the end of the third, the C’s had taken a 91-82 lead.
The Celtics’ shooting stayed hot as the final frame opened. Pritchard started the quarter with a deep step-back three-pointer, then hit on another a couple minutes later to increase Boston’s lead to 15 points while both Maxey and Embiid were resting. George joined in on the fun and hit a pullup three-pointer of his own to give the C’s a 100-82 lead, the largest of the night.
Philly called a timeout and subbed Maxey and Embiid back into the game, but they still had a hard time breaking through the Celtics’ stifling defense. On the other hand, nothing could stop Paul George. He knocked down a sweet turnaround mid-ranger, then cooked his defender for an easy layup to put Boston up 105-82 with about 8 minutes left to go.
Brown hit his first three-pointer of the night following a Boston timeout, but George hit another 2 three-pointers soon after to give the C’s a dominant 111-87 lead with less than 6 minutes to go in the game. The Sixers subsequently emptied the bench, all but conceding the loss to Boston.
George racked up 36 points on 63.6% shooting, including 6-11 from beyond the arc, 5 rebounds, and 1 assist.
Tatum finished the game with 21 points on 47.1% shooting, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks.
Pritchard and Hauser were the only other Celtics to finish with double-digit points, with 18 and 12, respectively.
The team finished the game shooting 22-49 from three-point range.
Brown had only 13 points on 44.4% shooting, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 stocks.
Maxey, James, and Embiid had 24, 11, and 16 points, respectively.
The Celtics will play the Toronto Raptors tomorrow at 7 p.m. in Scotiabank Arena. It will be the last game of Boston’s four-game road trip.
