PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia 76ers played host to the Boston Celtics on Tuesday in a game that featured a lot of emotions on both sides. The contest featured Jaylen Brown vs. Jayson Tatum as the two faced off for the first time since the trade while also featuring the return of Paul George to Philadelphia after two years with the Sixers.
The Celtics hit Philadelphia with a barrage of 3-pointers and walked out of the Xfinity Mobile Arena handing the Sixers a 123-101 loss. Former Sixers star George had 36 points and knocked down six triples in his return to Philadelphia.
Tyrese Maxey had 24 points and four assists for the Sixers while Joel Embiid had 16 points and six rebounds. LeBron James had 11 points, eight rebounds, and five assists, Brown
had 13 points and five rebounds, and VJ Edgecombe had eight points, five rebounds, and four assists. Dean Wade added eight points and nine boards off the bench.
Here are the three biggest takeaways following the loss:
Paul George made a successful return
The Sixers saw a glimpse of this version of George. The 9-time All-Star was phenomenal in the playoffs as he shot 49.3% from deep on 6.5 attempts per night. After shooting 6-for-11 from deep on Tuesday against Philadelphia, George is now shooting 44% from deep on the season. He has been terrific for the Celtics and he got loose in the Xfinity Mobile Arena. There was no answer the Sixers could come up with as the former Philadelphia star went to work early and often.
"First of all, give him credit," said coach Nick Nurse after the loss. "He's pretty crafty at getting open. We’ve known that and seen that. But he was he was doing a lot of change of direction, push-offs, those kind of things to get the ball in really good areas. I thought again he played one-on-one. We didn't force him to play off the dribble nearly enough. A lot of it was catch and shoot or look us in the eye and shoot stuff, which he's really good at. And he really had it going. Post-up, fallaways, really down the lane, high archer off the glass – he scored in about every way he could tonight."
A tough night for Jaylen Brown
Tough nights happen in the NBA, but this performance came at an inopportune time for him after all of the back-and-forth between the two sides. He took only nine shots and was hampered by foul trouble all night. He had some good moments for sure when considering the other things he was able to do between coming up with a couple of steals, finding ways to get involved on both ends of the floor, but overall, it was a miserable night for the 5-time All-Star as he handled the emotions of the night.
"I think the biggest thing was just trying to be there for him," Maxey said of Brown. "You know, it is going to be emotional no matter how the game went, and I think we did that as a team. We're trying to be there for him as much as possible, so I think he did a good job of just hanging in there. I know it was tough. He got the foul trouble early, and it's a difficult situation, but it's OK."
Boston's 3-point barrage
The difference in the game was the 3-point shooting. The Celtics knocked down 22 3-pointers compared to just 11 for Philadelphia. Of course, a lot of it was the fact that George got hot, but the Celtics received four 3-pointers each from Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser, while receiving another three from Tatum, while Baylor Scheierman and Huge Gonzalez got into the act off the bench. If there's anybody on the Sixers who knows what that 3-point barrage can feel like, it's Brown who lived it during his years with the Celtics. Those constant avalanches of 3s can be demoralizing and it felt like Philadelphia was just unable to recover.
"Yeah, no, they got it going," Brown said of Boston's 3s "I don't know how many 3s they hit, but I've seen it. I've been a part of it for a long time, so I know what it looks like, know what it feels like. Tonight was one of those nights that had it going from all angles. Sam, Payton, PG, everybody was shooting the ball at a high level. And then when you get to those 3s, you give up layups. So they executed well. Had a good game plan. So, give credit to them."
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: 3 biggest takeaways for Sixers following big loss to Celtics at home
