Jaylen Brown delivered the opening message with a pregame snub Tuesday night. But it was Jayson Tatum, Paul George and the Boston Celtics who had the last laugh in a blowout 123-101 victory over Brown’s Philadelphia 76ers.
The game marked the first anticipated meeting between Tatum and Brown since their highly publicized split as Celtics teammates. The two led Boston to an NBA championship, but got off to a bitter start as rivals after Brown’s offseason trade to the 76ers.
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Tatum got the better of Brown in the blowout victory with 21 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks. Brown got into trouble early with three fouls in the first half and struggled to get much going. He finished with 13 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 turnovers.
In the end, it was George who took the lead role against his former team. George was part of Philadelphia’s return in the deal to acquire Brown from the Celtics. He caught fire and led all scorers with 36 points and five rebounds while shooting 14 of 22 from the field and 6 of 11 from 3.
Brown opens with pre-match snobbery against Tatum
The tension was visible from the start when Brown openly snubbed Tatum in front of more than 20,000 fans in Philadelphia and a national television audience. Brown said before the 76ers’ highly anticipated game against the Celtics on Tuesday that he had no plans to speak with Tatum.
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He was true to his word.
As players took the court before tipoff, Tatum approached his former Celtics teammate in an attempt to spike Brown. Brown, who was busy swinging the basketball, acted as if Tatum didn’t exist.
Tatum then moved on to Brown’s teammate LeBron James, who was happy to share some pre-game love with his rival before getting down to some basketball.
It was awkward to say the least and left Tatum standing in the middle of the court next to Brown like a man who had just been left hanging.
The ball was then fortunately knocked down to break the pre-match tension. After the game, Brown told reporters he was just trying to focus rather than snub Tatum, via Kris Rhim of ESPN:
“I’m just focused on going out and doing what’s best for my team. Everything else was just – to be honest, I wasn’t paying attention to it. But credit to Jayson, he played well tonight. Credit to the Celtics, they executed, shot the ball. They were the better team tonight.”
Tatum and the Celtics take and keep control
When the game started, it was Tatum who delivered the first blow. In their first one-on-one matchup of the game, Brown sized up Tatum from the wing beyond the 3-point arc. Tatum smothered him and pushed the ball away from Brown and out of bounds for a turnover.
Tatum then scored 11 points in the first quarter as the Celtics finished the game with a 30-23 lead.
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Tatum dunks on LeBron
From there, Tatum and Brown spent much of the game guarding each other while sharing the court. But Tatum made his biggest mark of the game with a showpiece dunk over James in the second half as the 76ers closed the gap after a 13-point deficit in the third quarter.
The 76ers fought back to tie the score at 76. But the Celtics’ 3-pointer, paced by George, broke the game open down the stretch as Boston opened its lead to as many as 25 points.
The Celtics shot 50.5% from the field and 44.9% (22 of 45) from 3 while limiting the 76ers to 41.8% shooting and 29.7% (11 of 37) from 3.
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Tyrese Maxey led the 76ers with 24 points. James had 11 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists while shooting 1 of 6 from 3. Joel Embiid had 16 points and 6 rebounds while shooting 2 of 9 from the field.
The end result was a resounding victory for the Celtics (9-2) to overtake the 76ers (9-3) for the best record in the Eastern Conference.
No postgame interaction between Tatum and Brown
Once it was over, Brown shared hugs with several of his former Celtics teammates. But he left the court without acknowledging Tatum as Tatum gave a postgame interview to NBC.
Tatum, meanwhile, did not mention Brown’s name in his interview, while downplaying the significance of Tuesday’s victory.
“They all count as one,” Tatum said of the match’s outcome. “No game is bigger than another, certainly in the regular season. It’s a game. It’s a game. The hoopla is definitely over and we’re getting ready for tomorrow.”
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How much bad blood is there really?
Given the discussions leading up to Tuesday’s game, Brown’s cold reception to Tatum was expected.
Tatum downplayed any friction with his former All-NBA teammate.
“There’s no animosity, there’s no beef,” Tatum previously said when speaking about his relationship with Brown.
For Brown, who aired his multitude of grievances before the Celtics traded him in the offseason, there is clearly beef. Or lamb chops, which he prefers.
“There’s no beef, but there might be a little lamb chops and gravy,” Brown previously said of his relationship with Tatum.
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Brown reiterated Sunday that he had nothing to say with Tatum.
“I mean, he’s on his side, I’m on my side,” Brown said, according to ESPN’s Kris Rhim. “I’m just playing basketball. We’re both trying to win, so nothing to say. Just check the ball.”
Check the ball, they did – this time in favor of Tatum and the Celtics.
Gn sports
