I’m not usually one to complain about more Celtics basketball. But it doesn’t feel quite right that the Green had to zip to Toronto for the second half of a back-to-back after Tuesday night’s throttling of Jaylen Brown and the 76ers.
The Celtics’ 123-101 victory in the most anticipated game of the regular season — save for perhaps when Brown returns to Boston in January — deserved a day or two for further rumination, to let the outcome and implications settle a bit.
So, three lingering thoughts on a stirring Celtics win, even as the schedule chugs onward …
⋅ Oh, now I get why the Clippers once gave up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and five first-round picks for Paul George. Fine, maybe that’s a bit extreme. Maybe it’s a lot extreme. Not to mention that the Clippers gave up even more than that — Danilo Gallinari and a couple of pick swaps went to the Thunder, as well. It might be the most lopsided trade in NBA history that didn’t culminate with Red Auerbach grinning and puffing on a cigar.
But … George’s exceptional performance as a Celtic, including a calm, masterful 36-point game against one of his former teams on Tuesday night, has been a necessary reminder that this is an extremely accomplished NBA player whose abilities were overlooked by most Celtics fans in the aftermath of the trade that sent Brown to the 76ers.
It’s puzzled me that George — a nine-time All-Star, six-time All-NBA selection, and four-time All-Defense selection — was underestimated around here given that Celtics fans are smart (at least the ones that don’t call sports radio) and that his performance was a major reason the 76ers bounced the Celtics from last season’s playoffs.
The 76ers didn’t cue up a “Welcome back, Paul” tribute video in the arena Tuesday night, but George didn’t need one. He turned the game into his own highlight reel while pulling off the trick of playing a completely selfless brand of basketball at the same time. He shot 14 of 22, including 6 of 11 from 3-point range. Fourteen of his points came after the 76ers had rallied to knot the score at 79 in the third quarter.
And he did it — and does it, game to game — by playing decisively. The stagnancy and my-turn stuff is mostly gone in the Celtics’ offense. The ball moves more often. George is a knockdown shooter who can still slither to the hoop at age 36, and he has the innate ability to recognize what the Celtics need at a given moment and provide it. His skill set is different, but his basketball sensibilities remind me of Jrue Holiday’s, and there are few higher compliments than that.
Oh, and don’t forget: Brad Stevens also got two first-round picks in this deal you hated. Yes, you. Don’t make me dig out the receipts.
⋅ Brown should have to swap his harp for a sad trombone after that performance. Joe Mazzulla and the Celtics’ staff knew exactly how Brown was going to approach that game — as some combination of William Wallace in “Braveheart,” Maximus in “Gladiator,” and Ken shouting “Revenge!” at the end of a “A Fish Called Wanda.” And they knew exactly what to do to ruin his I’ll-show-you schemes.
The Celtics’ defense sent a double-team at Brown virtually every time he caught the ball and attacked his dribble, knowing he would try to beat the double-team himself rather than making a quick pass to open up an opportunity for a teammate. He ended up making several reluctant short-hop passes out of those double-teams, contributing to a disjointed offense. Words to mark: Brace for this team of mismatched stars to start griping about Nick Nurse if there is any kind of a losing streak ahead.
Mazzulla and Co. also seized on his tunnel vision for Jayson Tatum on the defensive end, taking advantage of the knowledge that he wouldn’t be in position as a help-side defender, or especially interested in being one. The game was a one-on-one matchup as far as he was concerned.
Brown scored just 13 points, turned the ball over four times, battled foul trouble, and was a minus-27. It was totally in character for Mazzulla to note pregame, when asked by Brian Scalabrine about facing Brown, that it was also Anfernee Simons’s first game against the Celtics since he was traded. Simons actually outscored Brown, 17-13.
⋅ Every 8½ years or so, Tatum will dunk on LeBron James’s head: Tatum played an admirably mature game, putting up 21 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists in 32 minutes while shrugging off Brown’s this-is-personal antics.
But Tatum did have one flashback to his NBA youth, hammering home a third-quarter dunk over James that instantly stirred memories of his late dunk in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals during his rookie season. (That’s the first thing I always think of when I remember that game. Second? Terry Rozier going 0 for 10 from three. Huh.)
Tatum says he still doesn’t feel quite like he did before his Achilles’ injury, which should scare the rest of the league. He is in command of his own gravity on the court, a complete player who recognizes how even his subtle decisions can positively affect his teammates.
It’s something certain other accomplished players we know well around here still haven’t learned. And we don’t mean Paul George.
Chad Finn can be reached at chad.finn@globe.com.