Even the most casual NBA fan knew the stakes of Tuesday night’s matchup between the 76ers and Celtics.

The names of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum dominated every headline in sight. The simmering rivalry between the two stars is perhaps the biggest storyline of the NBA season thus far and took all the possible oxygen in the lead-up to last night’s clash of two Eastern Conference powers. It’s just the right balance of drama, talent and intrigue to capture the attention of the masses after the sheen of a new year wears off.

Lost amid the shuffle was the possibility of a Paul George revenge game in his return to Philadelphia—and he made us all regret overlooking him.

In a continuation of what’s been an exceptional start to his Boston tenure, George stole the show with all eyes on Tatum and Brown. The veteran star racked up 36 points on on 14-for-22 shooting, including 6-for-11 from three, while playing great defense throughout. And when it came time to win, George stepped up. With Tatum resting to begin the fourth quarter, PG-13 scored 14 straight points to bury his former team and cement the C’s victory.

PAUL GEORGE SCORING 14 STRAIGHT IN THE 4Q, UNCUT 🍿

A 36-point return to Philadelphia... @celtics win their 4th in a row and move to #1 in the East! pic.twitter.com/xUg9qxrXCR

— NBA (@NBA) November 11, 2026

It was both vintage and modern Paul George on display. The silky smooth shot that only finds net when he’s cooking was familiar. But unlike the previous situations in his career, George was rarely asked to create his open looks. He played off others, taking advantage of Philly’s focus on Tatum to get wide-open looks. Boston schemed up flare screens to engineer catch-and-shoot opportunities. It was probably as low-effort a 36-point game the longtime forward has ever experienced.

If anything it was more effortless than just about any game in his two years with the Sixers; he crested the 36-point mark exactly once in two years wearing a Philly uniform. In Celtics green, he’s gotten there twice in 11 games. Given George’s statistical decline over the last few years it’s fair to wonder if this more of a flash in the pan than an indication of how valuable he could be to this year’s Boston team. But if you ask the man himself, it’s exactly what he’s capable of—when he isn’t fighting injuries.

“I’m healthy,” George stated simply when discussing his big performance postgame on Tuesday night. “That was the biggest challenge, the biggest hurdle the first two years I was here in Philly. And what I’ve learned is, I’m a little bit better with more usage. That’s no knock [to] my opportunities here with Philly. Quite frankly I wasn’t healthy enough to take on the workload I feel that I’m at best. Here in Boston they gave me an opportunity to come out here and play and be myself. [Coach Joe Mazzulla] has integrated me right into the offense and allowed me to just be myself.”

Given Tatum’s status as an elite offensive player and the myriad ways Mazzulla can offer to scheme up quality offense, the Celtics would have been happy if George was merely himself on the defensive side of the ball after years of elite play on that end. To get this version of George offensively is a huge boost to their title chances as long as it isn’t a fluke.

So far, it’s looking very real.

The Paul George reinassance is a huge reason for the Celtics’ hot start

After winning in Philadelphia on Tuesday, Boston sits alone atop the East with a 9–2 record. It’s been a team effort in many ways. The Celtics are one of the NBA’s most active defensive teams, ranking sixth in deflections (19.4) and seventh in forced turnovers (16.8) per game. Seven rotation players are averaging at least one made three-pointer per game for the third-best offense in the league by net rating. Yet George leads in multiple different ways.

The star wing ranks in the top-10 of the entire NBA in steals per game at 2.1 and accounts for a quarter of Boston’s nightly deflections with 4.9 per night. His instinctive sense for jumping passing lanes and active hands pop off the screen. It's not a revelation from the four-time All-Defense nominee—but this level of activity was thought to have disappeared from his game at this point. George last averaged over two steals a night in 2018–19 playing alongside Russell Westbrook with the Thunder.

In recent years the Celtics have adopted a low-risk “guard your yard” defensive scheme of forcing opponents to beat them in one-on-one situations without trying to turn the ball over (as evidenced by Boston finishing 29th, 27th and 29th in turnovers per game in the last three seasons). It obviously has worked out quite well but the modern NBA values live ball turnovers more than ever—the best defenses force tons of turnovers. George has led the charge in completely changing that scheme, and the team is better off for it. The Celtics are successfully compensating in what they lost in Brown’s scoring and one-on-one defense so far by forcing a significant uptick in turnovers; they wouldn’t be able to do that without George.

On the other end, they don’t ask much of the 36-year-old wing while Tatum is on the floor, and it’s paying dividends. George ranks second on the roster with 40 spot-up attempts through 11 games and is drilling 43.6% of those shots. When one of Boston’s big centers screens for George, he is absolutely killing defenses, shooting 73.3% on attempts off screens. All that adds up to recording 80 points on catch-and-shoot opportunities so far, which is the seventh-most in the NBA. His 5.8 catch-and-shoot attempts per game are his most since—you guessed it—his final season with the Thunder and Westbrook. Those numbers reflect George’s role as an off-ball spacer rather than the on-ball creator superstars of his ilk are so often asked to be.

He can still get that job done when Tatum sits, though. In 120 minutes on the court without Boston’s primary superstar, George has helped the Celtics’ offense to a 131.7 rating per 100 possessions, which is 10 points higher than when he and Tatum are both on the court. Those are the minutes where George is most often asked to run the pick-and-roll and score in isolation, usually sharing those duties with Derrick White and Payton Pritchard. He hasn’t been super efficient in those areas (0.78 points per pick-and-roll possessions, 0.63 in isolation) but at large the numbers say he’s doing his job of avoiding an offensive collapse when the superstar hits the bench.

George’s scorching hot shooting will undoubtedly cool off (his current 44% make percentage on over eight three-pointers per game is Steph Curry territory) but his opportunities will remain consistent. Opponents will do everything possible to take away Tatum. Open shots will be there for George as a result. Combined with opportunistic defensive excellence that can almost entirely be chalked up to basketball IQ than any kind of physical advantage, and George should continue to be an elite two-way player for Boston as long as he stays healthy.

Tuesday night’s win was just further proof that George’s hot start isn’t a mirage. He is being put in a perfect position to succeed with his particular skillset and the Celtics are reaping the benefits.

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