Celtics vs. 76ers winners and losers: Jayson Tatum outduels Jaylen Brown, but Paul George steals the show

Nick Nurse nailed it. A lot of people had a lot to say in advance of the Celtics and 76ers facing each other for the first time this season, but Philadelphia's coach summed it up pretty well before the two teams tipped off on Tuesday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

"This is probably one -- maybe the one -- that people were circling in the summertime when the schedule came out," Nurse said.

He wasn't kidding. From the moment Jaylen Brown was traded to the Sixers, the hype and drama surrounding the first meeting between him and his old team -- and his longtime running mate-turned-rival, Jayson Tatum -- have been seemingly endless. While Tatum tried to lower the heat on the simmering feud, claiming that he was "caught off guard as much as the rest of the world" when Brown was shipped to Philly, Brown was all too happy to add rhetorical fuel to the fire, saying there might not be beef between the two players, but there was some "lamb chops and gravy" and warning his former teammate to "stay ready at all times."

By Tuesday, there wasn't much left unsaid. When Brown was asked whether he would talk to Tatum prior to the game, he dismissed the idea: "There's nothing to talk about. He's on his side, I'm on my side. We're playing basketball. Both of us are trying to win. So there's nothing to talk about. Check the ball up."

The old saying about being careful what you wish for comes to mind. They checked the ball up and the Celtics ran the Sixers off their floor in what ended up as a blowout 123-101 win for Boston. Aside from the actual victory for the Celtics that moved them ahead of the Sixers in the standings and into first place in the Eastern Conference, here are the winners and losers from the most anticipated game of the season to date, including the under-discussed player in the Brown-to-Philly deal having the performance of the night.

Winner: Jayson Tatum

The Sixers beating the Celtics in the first round of the playoffs last year was the outlier, not the rule. Boston tends to get the better of Philly in big games. Tatum and the Celtics reminded everyone about that on Tuesday. He finished with 21 points, six rebounds, four assists and two blocks. And a whole lot of bragging rights.

We got some Tatum vs. Brown one-on-one matchups early, with Tatum getting the better of the duel at the defensive end.

And while his most memorable play didn't come against Brown, Tatum still had the highlight of the evening when he threw down a monster dunk on LeBron James.

Brown was right. There wasn't anything left to talk about. Tatum did his talking on the court.

Loser: Jaylen Brown

This was always going to be a zero-sum game. Tatum won, Brown lost. But the way Brown went down wasn't great as far as optics and narratives go. He was held to a season-low 13 points, got in foul trouble, had four turnovers and was a game-worst minus-27. Oof.

Apart from a nice dunk in the first half, it was a game for Brown to forget. Making matters worse, the guy he got traded for had a night to remember.

"I'm a bit frustrated, honestly," Brown said after the game. "I wanted to perform better for my team. Foul trouble kind of derailed me a little bit, but it happens. It's unfortunate, but now we got to just move on to the next."

Winner: Paul George

When the Sixers traded George, it seemed like a magic trick by new president of basketball operations Mike Gansey. George played just 78 largely unspectacular games over two seasons in Philly. Beyond that, he's six years older than Brown and still had two years and more than $110 million left on his deal.

So naturally, George has looked like the best version of himself since leaving Philly and going to Boston. His hot start to the season continued on Tuesday with him dropping 36 points on 14 for 22 shooting from the field, including making six of his 11 3-point attempts. He was so good against his former team that at one point he inspired NBC's Noah Eagle on the play-by-play call to exclaim, "PG-13 has turned Rated R." (Prepackaged, but still a great line.)

It was supposed to be either Tatum or Brown's night, but George ended up commanding the biggest spotlight with how well he played.

Winner: Celtics 3-pointers

With Brad Stevens in the front office and Joe Mazzulla on the sideline, the Celtics have long had a theory of the case: Take more 3s than their opponents and bet that they'll make more. That gamble has served them well more often than not. They won a championship that way while leading the league in 3-point attempts and makes per game during the 2023-24 season. The strategy did not work as well against the Sixers in the last postseason, but the Celtics have made peace with the approach, win or lose.

Nothing has changed. Boston still loves to fire away from deep, and that's exactly what the Celtics did against the Sixers on Tuesday. Boston shot 45% from beyond the arc (22 for 49), compared to just 30% for Philadelphia (11 for 37).

When the outside shots are falling for the Celtics, they're tough to beat. No one knows that better than Jaylen Brown.

Winner: Pettiness

Why shake hands or hug when you can just turn your back and offer a cold shoulder instead?

When asked about this moment, Brown told reporters he "wasn't paying attention" when Tatum attempted to greet him.

"I'm just focused on coming out and doing what's best for my team. Everything else was just, to be honest, I wasn't paying attention," Brown said. "Credit to Jayson, he played well tonight. Credit to the Celtics, they executed, they shot the hell out of the ball and were the better team tonight."

Arguably the best part of Brown ignoring Tatum was Tatum then immediately going to LeBron James for an intricate handshake and embrace right afterward.

Tremendous all the way around.

Winner: Pregame interviews

Pretty much everyone was asked about Tatum and Brown, from Joe Mazzulla talking about how the trade could have been handled differently, to Payton Pritchard weighing in on whether there was beef between them, to Paul George taking credit for helping the Sixers "land a future piece" in Brown by getting traded (all the lols there).

The winner, though, was 76ers guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who, unlike Pritchard, didn't try to minimize the suspected animosity between Tatum and Brown -- or at least what appears to be some obvious hurt feelings from Brown's side. When Caldwell-Pope was asked about the situation, he pointed to a social media interaction as proof of what we all suspected anyway.

"I don't know what the tension was before JB left," Caldwell-Pope said. "All I know is when he wrote on the comments when JT did that little interview, that's all I know. That's all I need to know."

If you somehow missed it, "that little interview" was Tatum claiming that he found out about the trade when everyone else did -- which prompted Brown to pop up in the comments with a cap emoji, essentially calling Tatum a liar. Credit to Caldwell-Pope for calling it like it is rather than pretending.

Loser: Coach speak

Speaking of pretending, Nurse was asked about how Brown was approaching the game and reached into his bag of coach clichés for a classic favored by so many in his profession during times like these.

"He's approaching it as another game," Nurse said. "Big game. He's excited for the opportunity, but he wasn't expressing it in a personal way. He said this is a really good test for our team, and I agree with him."

Brown advised Tatum to stay ready at all times and everyone from the fans to the media dined out on the pork chops and gravy remarks for weeks in advance. It's hard to sell that as just another game.

Winner: Shootaround music

Full marks to whoever came up with the song selection for Celtics shootaround on Tuesday.

Winner: The rumor mill

Not long before tip-off, ESPN's Shams Charania reported that Tatum and Brown had a "heart-to-heart" in France prior to the trade. According to the report, the meeting occurred shortly after Brown was dangled in a failed trade attempt for Giannis Antetokounmpo, but before he was sent to Philadelphia.

That sounded pretty juicy, except to hear longtime NBA guard Evan Turner tell it on social media, "this didn't happen." Not to be outdone, Carmelo Anthony also weighed in on the topic, saying that being around the two in France was "weird."

Turner's source on the subject was unclear, but he was pretty emphatic about the denial, insisting in the comments to the story that the pair never spoke. Not sure that anyone predicted Turner coming off the top rope to smack down an NBA report, but if this ends with him or Carmelo becoming the new Woj, we're all in for a treat.