The Boston Celtics now have the Jaylen Brown “revenge game” out of the way. Boston dominated Brown’s new team, the Philadelphia 76ers, on Tuesday 123-101, just over four months after the Celtics shocked the NBA by trading Brown there in exchange for a package headed by veteran nine-time All-Star Paul George.
The win was Boston’s fourth in a row, raising the team’s record to 9-2 and giving them, at least for a day, the top seed in the NBA’s Eastern Conference.
But it was George’s 36-point outburst in Philadelphia that outshined Brown’s first attempt at “revenge” against the team that drafted him and that he helped take to a championship in 2024. With the Celtics facing a back-to-back game in Toronto Wednesday night, the Celtics announced a new decision on George’s status.
George is out for the Boston Celtics at Toronto on Wednesday night with an illness, one night after his 36-point scoring night — more points than he ever scored in a home game during his injury-riddled two-year period with the 76ers.
George is the only name on Boston’s injury report for the game against the Toronto Raptors. The team’s designation reads simply “illness.”
One unconfirmed report said that George felt unwell before the team traveled to Toronto, that the problem is not believed to be long-term and that he is expected to be available for the Celtics’ Sunday home game against the Dallas Mavericks.
George Illness Raises Back-to-Back Rest Question
Boston has already rested George on the second night of a back-to-back this season. He sat out the Nov. 2 game against the Houston Rockets, listed as out for rest against Houston, one night after playing the Orlando Magic, according to MassLive.
This time, George was not on the injury report for Tuesday’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers, yet the likelihood he would sit out Wednesday had already been flagged, according to NBC Sports.
George played both ends of an early back-to-back in late October, including 36 minutes in an overtime win over the Brooklyn Nets.
“I’ve been feeling really good health-wise,” George said, as quoted by Celtics Wire.
The goal, he said, is to “be healthy at the end of the year,” and he called himself ready for either approach, whether playing back-to-backs or “being smart approaching back-to-backs. We’ll get to that when the time is there.”
So which is it? The designation says illness. Against Houston, it said rest. Neither the Celtics nor reporters have specified the nature of the illness.
Paul George Season Stats and Career Background
The night before, George led Boston to a 123-101 win in Philadelphia. In 30 minutes, he made 14 of 22 shots, including 6 of 11 from three-point range, and added five rebounds and an assist. He scored 17 in the first half and 14 more in just over seven minutes of the fourth quarter.
It was his first regular-season game in Philadelphia since the trade that sent him to Boston and Jaylen Brown to the 76ers. George said he is “a little bit better with more usage” and that during two injury-affected seasons in Philadelphia he “wasn’t healthy to take on the workload” he prefers. Boston, he said, has let him “play and be myself.”
Through 10 games, George is averaging 22.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.1 steals in about 30 minutes. He is shooting between 48 and 49 percent from the field and about 44 percent from three-point range, and he has started every game he has played. He scored 38 in the season opener, and Boston is 9-2.
George, born May 2, 1990, in Palmdale, California, is 36 years old and stands 6-foot-8. He played two seasons at Fresno State before the Indiana Pacers made him the 10th pick in the 2010 NBA Draft. Stops followed with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Clippers and Philadelphia 76ers.
He is a nine-time All-Star and six-time All-NBA selection, including first team in 2019. He won the NBA’s Most Improved Player award in 2013, led the league in steals in 2019 and won Olympic gold with Team USA in 2016.
As for his replacement, Boston had not announced a new starter as of early Wednesday afternoon.
Derrick White, Jordan Walsh, Jayson Tatum and Neemias Queta started alongside George against the 76ers. Projections point to expanded roles for Baylor Scheierman and Payton Pritchard, with tip-off set for 7 p.m. EST at Scotiabank Arena.
Celtics Announce Paul George Decision Ahead of Raptors Game After 36-Point Night