PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jayson Tatum dapped up Jaylen Brown with a friendly tap on the shoulder and thump on the chest which his former Boston teammate ignored.
Brown gave him a cold shoulder. Tatum got the hot hand.
Brown ignored Tatum's brief show of affection, perhaps a fitting illustration of a frosty relationship that has included radio silence between the two All-Stars since Brown was traded in the summer to the Sixers.
“No headlines about anything
like that,” Tatum said. “I was just getting ready for the game. Ready for jump ball. Go out there and compete and have some fun and try and get the win.”
Tatum scored 21 points and outplayed Brown, and Paul George reminded fans he was in that blockbuster trade with six 3-pointers for 36 points in his return to Philadelphia, leading the Celtics past the 76ers 123-101 on Tuesday night.
PG flashed a reminder — both with his game and a middle finger — that he can still throw it back to his All-Star prime.
He scored 14 straight points in the fourth quarter and made six of Boston's 22 3-pointers. George flipped off a Sixers fan in a bowling motion after he sank his fourth 3 of the game for a 100-82 lead that pushed the Celtics to their ninth win in 10 games.
“There was a fan being a (jerk),” George said. “Ball rolled to him. He looked me dead in my eyes. Dropped the ball on the ground as if I'm a dog to go fetch or got get it instead of passing the ball to me like a normal fan would do. So I rolled him a middle finger in return.”
The Celtics had all the fun in this one.
Tatum shook hands and exchanged a big hug with LeBron James. Tatum later dunked over James and seemingly got the last laugh in the first matchup this season between the two top teams in the East.
Brown and Tatum kept their distance during pregame warmups ahead of Tuesday’s game when the Celtics played Philadelphia for the first time since the summer trade that saw Brown surprisingly switch sides.
Brown hit some jumpers on the Sixers' end of the court. Tatum warmed up on his side with his Celtics teammates.
Neither All-Star decided to shoot his shot with the other.
Brown was traded with draft picks to the rival 76ers in July for George.
Brown ran into early foul trouble and scored only 13 points in his first game against Boston since the 2024 NBA Finals MVP was traded. He picked up two quick fouls in the first quarter and was whistled for his fourth early in the second half.
Brown declined to get into his Tatum brush off.
“I'm just focused on doing what's best for my team,” Brown said. “Everything else was just, to be honest, I wasn't paying attention.”
Brown got the better of Tatum early when he picked off his old teammate's pass and fed the ball to Tyrese Maxey for a 3-pointer.
Brown said last month there was “ no beef ” between himself and Tatum, even as the dissection over the end of their relationship had dragged into the season.
The trade has been a success for both teams. The 76ers, with Brown and James aboard, are 9-3 and the Celtics now have the best record in the East at 9-2.
Joe Mazzulla coached both players when the Celtics won the 2024 NBA championship. He was ready to put the circus that enveloped behind him and proud that Tatum never had to eat crow — or any lamb chops.
“They're just words,” Mazzulla said. “It's not like his life's threatened. There's no weapons. There's no one throwing anything at him. No one's attacking him. It's not really that big of a deal.”
Brown was a five-time All-Star and wound up with career-best averages of 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists last season while Tatum missed most of last season while recovering from an Achilles tendon tear that happened during the 2025 playoffs.
With both players healthy and commanding hefty salaries that would eventually account for roughly 70% of Boston’s salary cap, the franchise faced a difficult decision about which player to keep. Boston chose Tatum.
The Sixers were happy to part with the 36-year-old George.
George shone in Philly on Tuesday after two flat seasons with the Sixers. George was poised to join Joel Embiid and Maxey to form a Philly Big Three when he left the Clippers and signed a four-year, $212 million free-agent contract ahead of the 2024 season.
George instead was ravaged by knee and adductor injuries — among others — that robbed the nine-time All-Star of his full potential that he flashed in his three previous NBA stops. He was suspended 25 games last season for violating the terms of the NBA’s anti-drug program.
George — whose 20.4 points entering the game is higher than either of his two seasons in Philadelphia — simply joined a list that included Jimmy Butler and James Harden of All-Star hired guns that failed to win a title with the Sixers.
Give this one to George and Tatum.
Let's do it again Jan. 21 in Boston.
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