Paul George, Jayson Tatum outplay Jaylen Brown as Celtics wreck 76ers

PHILADELPHIA — In the wildly anticipated first battle between Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, Paul George upstaged them both.

The 76er-turned-Celtic shredded his former team Tuesday night, tallying 36 points on 14-of-22 shooting as Boston turned a close game played amid a playoff-like atmosphere at Xfinity Mobile Arena into a 123-101 rout.

The Celtics’ decision to trade Brown for George and draft picks this summer was unpopular among fans, but the latter is off to a superb start with his new club. This was his fourth game with at least 25 points, with three of those coming in his last four outings.

Tatum, whose attempt to greet Brown before the game was rebuffed, added 21 points, six rebounds, four assists and two blocks. Brown was quiet in his first game against the team that drafted him, finishing with 13 points, five rebounds, two assists and four turnovers. The 76ers were outscored by 27 points over his 26 minutes.

A stream of Celtics 3-pointers in the late third and early fourth quarters broke the game open. The final two of George’s six made 3s prompted Sixers head coach Nick Nurse to pull his starters with 5:35 remaining.

Brown dapped up a Celtics staffer after jogging onto the court for pregame warmups. A few minutes later, he shared a brief hug with Celtics guard Derrick White. As was the case before the Sixers’ preseason game at TD Garden, Brown and Tatum warmed up on opposite sides of the court without interacting.

Brown continued to ignore Tatum before the opening tip. Tatum hugged Joel Embiid and LeBron James as he walked to his position, but his attempt to engage with Brown yielded no reaction from his former teammate.

Given the months of buildup and wealth of storylines — Tatum vs. Brown, first-round playoff rematch, No. 1 vs. 2 in the Eastern Conference, George facing his former team, etc. — Nurse said he expected a “really electric” atmosphere inside the arena.

“I think this is probably one — maybe the one — that people were circling in the summertime when the schedule came out,” Nurse said pregame. “So I would imagine it’s finally here, and everybody gets to let out all that anticipation.”

Let it out, they did. Sixers fans booed and cheered lustily throughout the first quarter, especially on plays involving the night’s two central figures.

There were plenty of those in the opening minutes.

On Boston’s fourth possession, Brown stole a Tatum pass and fed Tyrese Maxey for a 3-pointer. Moments later, Brown turned the ball over with Tatum guarding him, then fouled Tatum on a drive. He appeared to argue that Tatum embellished to draw the call. Later, Tatum contended that Brown should have been called for a push-off — the foul for which he was whistled nearly a dozen times in last season’s playoff series — while he drove for a dunk.

Three minutes in, Tatum threw down a fast-break dunk off a Jordan Walsh steal, then beat Brown around an off-ball screen for an easy layup. Brown responded by picking off a pass intended for Tatum, but his bid for a transition slam was denied by White, who retreated in time to draw a charge.

Brown subbed out at the 5:33 mark. Tatum played the entire first quarter — as he has in every game he’s played this season — and scored 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting. The Celtics led 30-23 after one.

They stretched their lead to double digits with Tatum on the bench, with George and Payton Pritchard accounting for six of the team’s made baskets before Boston’s top option reentered.

The Celtics struggled to keep the 76ers off the free-throw line — less than 20 minutes in, Philly had attempted 20 foul shots to Boston’s two — but limited their clean looks in the lane. The 76ers shot 9-for-18 in the paint and 7-for-13 at the rim in the first half, while also making just three of their 16 3-pointers.

Boston’s three centers — Neemias Queta, Mitchell Robinson and Luka Garza — combined to hold Embiid to 0-of-6 shooting before halftime, though he did generate nine points at the line. James was 1 for 6 in the first half, with second-year wing Hugo Gonzalez handling that assignment for much of the second quarter.

Paced offensively by George’s 13 second-quarter points, the Celtics carried a 62-51 lead into the locker room.

Embiid and George came alive in the third quarter, going a combined 5 for 6 from the field as the Sixers began to break down the Celtics’ interior defense. Tatum victimized James on consecutive plays — posterizing the 41-year-old on one end and drawing a charge at the other — but the momentum from that sequence was short-lived.

After George hit his third 3-pointer of the night, Philadelphia ripped off a 7-0 run, tying the game at 76-76 on a Dean Wade triple.

But the Celtics quickly recovered. They hit five straight 3s — by Pritchard, Pritchard, Tatum, Sam Hauser and Baylor Scheierman — to head into the fourth quarter up 92-81, then made three more as their lead ballooned to 100-82.

Pritchard (18 points) and Hauser (12 points) provided eight of Boston’s 22 made 3s in the win.