The Boston Celtics blew out the Philadelphia 76ers 123-101 on Tuesday night, and Jaylen Brown had one of the worst games of his season. He finished with 13 points, five rebounds, four turnovers and a game-worst minus-27 in his first meeting with his former Boston teammate Jayson Tatum since Brown was traded this offseason.
Almost all the fans in Xfinity Mobile Arena rose to their feet when Brown received the ball on one wing and matched up with Tatum early in the first quarter. Brown took two dribbles, tried a spin move, stumbled and lost the ball out of bounds. He fouled Tatum seconds later on the next possession while still arguing with an official about what he believed was a missed call on the previous play.
That sequence reflected a difficult night for Brown. After weeks of back-and-forth with Tatum, including a proclamation from Brown that there was no beef but “a little lamb chops and some gravy”, the matchup drew enormous attention in Philadelphia.
Pregame tension and a missed handshake
Brown said days before the game that he did not plan to speak to Tatum, with whom he had spent nine years as a teammate in Boston, winning a title together in 2024.
“Nothing to talk about,” Brown said. Moments before tipoff, Tatum did not appear to accept that message. As Brown spun a basketball at midcourt, Tatum headed in his direction for a dap and eventually tapped Brown’s chest, but Brown acted as if Tatum was not there. Tatum then moved on, shaking hands with Sixers forward LeBron James next to Brown.
When asked about the moment later, Brown sidestepped the question.
“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, but credit to Jayson; he played well tonight.”
Tatum also sidestepped the hype surrounding their first post-trade matchup.
“No headlines about anything like that,” he said. “I was just getting ready for the game, ready for jump ball, go out there, compete, have some fun and try to get a win.”
A sharp drop after a strong stretch
Brown had been enjoying perhaps his best stretch of the season heading into the game. He scored a season-high 30 points in a win over Detroit and followed that with 29 points in Sunday’s win over the Bulls. He appeared to be settling into a rhythm with his new team, but that was not the case on Tuesday.
Celtics coach Nick Nurse offered a simple assessment. “He had a tough night,” Nurse said.
Foul trouble also played a major role. After the initial foul on Tatum, Brown picked up a charging foul while running over Derrick White, and he pleaded with the Sixers sideline to challenge the call without success. He went to the bench with just over five minutes remaining in the first half, which was his first game with multiple first-quarter fouls this season. He had not recorded more than two fouls in a first half with Philadelphia before this game. He finished with four fouls, the last of which came by the 10:40 mark of the third quarter after a reaching call.
“I’m a bit frustrated, honestly,” Brown said.
The emotions surrounding the matchup appeared to have affected him, but Brown rejected that idea after the game.
“I didn’t have any emotion. I was locked in. I was focused, I was ready to go,” Brown said. “Foul trouble kind of took me out of my rhythm a little bit. I had to sit for a while, and we didn’t execute as well as they did.”