Celtics Crushed Philly 144–106 — George's Five Steals May Matter More Than the Score
GOATIFYThe scoreboard said 144–106. The more revealing figure was Boston's 70–40 advantage on the glass. In a preseason game against Philadelphia on Saturday, October 10, the Celtics did not simply shoot their way to a lopsided win; they generated extra possessions, controlled the pace after an early wobble and made a series of defensive plays that turned the 76ers' mistakes into immediate pressure.
Payton Pritchard scored 25 points and handed out seven assists. Jayson Tatum supplied 23 points, five rebounds and four assists without needing the fourth quarter. Paul George's first Celtics appearance brought 13 points, five rebounds, four assists and, most intriguingly, five steals. Boston's margin grew to 38 points, yet the most important questions are about what can survive once opponents play their full rotations.
Philadelphia was without several central names, including Joel Embiid, Jaylen Brown and LeBron James. That matters. A preseason rout of an undermanned opponent is not a preview of a playoff series, and it cannot settle the arguments surrounding the teams' reshaped rosters. It can, however, show how a group wants to play. Boston offered a particularly loud example.
From an 8–0 hole to a 39–22 second-quarter takeover
Boston did not start as though a blowout was inevitable. Philadelphia opened with an 8–0 burst, the sort of short run that can expose a preseason lineup still figuring out its spacing and communication. The Celtics' response was not one spectacular possession. It was a gradual change in the number and quality of chances each team received. The lead flipped, the defense began forcing uncomfortable decisions, and Boston kept putting the Sixers in situations where a stop was not enough because the rebound still had to be secured.
The second quarter delivered the decisive separation. Boston won those 12 minutes 39–22, a 17-point swing that transformed a competitive opening into a game the visitors would spend the rest of the night chasing. That is a useful distinction: a hot three-point stretch can disappear in a hurry, but winning the possession battle while also shooting efficiently is a much more difficult combination to overcome. The Celtics were not dependent on one player creating every good look. Their guards advanced the ball quickly, wings found space, and the extra opportunities from the offensive glass repeatedly forced Philadelphia to defend longer than it wanted.
Pritchard's 25 points and seven assists fit that pattern. His value was not confined to the shots he made. He kept possessions organized when Boston pushed, gave teammates a reliable outlet when the first option stalled and helped turn defensive rebounds into early offense. A team can have stars and still struggle if every half-court trip starts slowly. Pritchard offers a different rhythm: he can attack before the defense is set without making every play a reckless race.
Tatum's 23 points were a complementary signal rather than an attempt to monopolize the night. He added five rebounds and four assists, and the Celtics had built such a cushion that he did not appear in the fourth quarter. The absence of late minutes is important when interpreting the box score. This was not a 40-minute star performance designed to rescue a close contest. It was an efficient contribution inside a broader team performance that allowed Boston to protect its leading players and still keep scoring.
Even the final total needs context. Scoring 144 in preseason is an eye-catching result, but a single game against a depleted opponent does not establish a sustainable offensive rating. The useful test is whether Boston can repeatedly create clean first shots, recover misses and move the ball before the defense can load up. Saturday provided examples of all three. It did not yet prove how those habits will hold up against the league's strongest and healthiest teams.
George's five steals were the clearest new-roster signal
Paul George's 13 points will not lead many highlight reels from a 144-point night. His five steals deserve more attention. The veteran also collected five rebounds and four assists, giving Boston a debut that was useful without demanding that the entire offense revolve around him. When a team already has Tatum and multiple capable ball handlers, a new wing's ability to influence possessions without dominating the ball can be as valuable as a burst of individual scoring.
Steals are noisy statistics. A defender can gamble for a passing lane, miss and leave a teammate facing an impossible rotation. One preseason game is far too small a sample to declare that George has found a new defensive peak. What the five takeaways do show is the kind of disruption Boston can imagine alongside its existing structure. A long wing who reads the next pass can shorten an opponent's possession before the shot ever arrives. If the help behind him is organized, that aggression can be rewarded rather than punished.
George's contribution also highlights the practical challenge of fitting a high-profile addition into an established team. The most productive version of this partnership may not feature him taking 20 shots. It may feature him choosing when to attack a mismatch, moving the ball quickly when the defense loads up and defending a dangerous perimeter scorer without requiring Boston to abandon its usual principles. Saturday's four assists suggest that the ball did not have to stop when it reached him.
Comparisons with Jaylen Brown will inevitably follow the roster changes, especially when Boston faces the team Brown now represents. They should not be decided by a preseason box score in which Brown did not play. Different players solve different problems, and the Celtics' needs against Philadelphia's makeshift lineup are not the same as the needs they will face in a playoff series. George's value has to be measured in how his defense, passing and scoring complement Tatum, not simply whether he outscored a missing former Celtic on a given night.
The five steals matter most as a clue to a larger identity. Boston wants to remain difficult to play against even when its offensive combinations change. If George can pressure passing lanes without compromising the team's rebounding shape, he adds a second route to offense: turnovers that become immediate scoring chances. That is more transferable than an unusually high final score, although it will require evidence over many more games.
The 70–40 rebound gap was a team-wide possession advantage
The widest statistical gap was not in a glamour category. Boston collected 70 rebounds to Philadelphia's 40, including an 18–7 edge on the offensive glass. That difference is a reminder that a defense does not finish its job when it forces a difficult shot. Somebody still has to box out, track the bounce and secure the ball. When a team fails to do that, the same possession can produce a second shot, a third shot or a kick-out three against a defense that has already worked hard.
The Celtics' rebounding advantage helped explain why their scoring kept climbing even after the outcome became clear. Boston attempted 11 more field goals than Philadelphia. Not every extra attempt came directly from a rebound, and turnovers also affected the possession count, but the combined picture is straightforward: the Celtics gave themselves more chances to score while limiting the Sixers' ability to build sustained pressure at the other end.
Derrick White contributed 15 points and provided the familiar connective tissue between Boston's more obvious scorers. He is the kind of guard whose value can be obscured in a game dominated by a star's point total. His willingness to make a quick decision, relocate after passing and defend across matchups helps a lineup keep its shape. That role becomes especially important when a new high-usage player is being integrated and the coaching staff wants the rest of the team to remain recognizable.
The bench offered its own encouraging moments. Hugo Gonzalez scored 17 points and made all four of his three-point attempts, while Sam Hauser added 11. Those are useful contributions, but the shooting numbers should be treated differently. Four-for-four from deep is an excellent night; it is not a reliable forecast of the next month. What Boston can take from it is that Gonzalez looked comfortable stepping into the available shots. If a young wing can punish a defense for helping away from him, the spacing around Tatum and George becomes harder to compress.
Depth is not simply the number of players capable of reaching double figures. It is the number who can fill a clear role without disrupting the others. Boston received scoring from starters and reserves, extra effort on the boards and steady ball movement across different combinations. The next question is whether that balance remains when rotations tighten and opponents have the personnel to contest the paint. A 30-rebound advantage is unlikely to repeat every night, but the underlying commitment to ending defensive possessions should travel.
Philadelphia's missing stars make Edgecombe's response worth separating
The Sixers have the clearest reason to resist treating this result as a complete statement about their season. Joel Embiid, Jaylen Brown and LeBron James did not play. Those are not minor absences: they change the size of the frontcourt, the number of players who can create a quality shot and the experience available when a game begins to unravel. Boston deserved credit for dominating the opponent in front of it, but it did not beat the strongest version of Philadelphia's roster.
Tyrese Maxey's difficult evening illustrated the burden on the remaining creators. He finished with eight points on 2-of-10 shooting. It would be an overreaction to read a slump into one preseason performance, especially with so many regular partners missing. Defenses can load up differently when fewer established threats are available. For Maxey, the important follow-up is not whether he can erase Saturday's line in the next exhibition; it is whether Philadelphia can create easier looks for him once its preferred combinations are on the floor.
VJ Edgecombe provided a more positive counterpoint. His 19 points gave Philadelphia one of the night's stronger individual efforts despite the heavy loss. That matters for a young player entering a team with enormous expectations and several veteran names. Development is not always visible in the final margin. It can appear in a willingness to attack, recover after a mistake and keep making useful decisions when the scoreboard is already tilted.
The 76ers also received 14 points apiece from LaBaron Philon and Jabari Walker. Those contributions do not cancel out the rebounding deficit, but they show that the evaluation of this game should be more specific than simply declaring one team ready and the other in trouble. Philadelphia can use the tape to examine where its transition defense failed, why so many rebounds escaped and which combinations held up when Boston applied pressure. Those are actionable questions, unlike the temptation to turn one exhibition score into a season-long verdict.
The schedule will supply better comparisons soon. Boston is due to face Charlotte and then meet Philadelphia again before opening the regular season against Detroit on October 20. Each game should offer a different mix of minutes, health and lineup priorities. The rematch will be particularly informative if the Sixers can bring more of their primary players onto the floor. Until then, the correct takeaway is narrower and more useful: Boston showed a coherent two-way approach, while Philadelphia's available group could not match its pace or finish enough defensive possessions.
Boston can take genuine encouragement from a 144–106 win without pretending the result settled anything permanent. Pritchard supplied control and scoring, Tatum was efficient without heavy minutes, George disrupted passing lanes and the team won the rebounding battle by 30. Those are connected strengths rather than isolated highlights.
Philadelphia's missing stars prevent any fair head-to-head judgment about the teams at full strength. The more meaningful questions now are whether Boston's defense stays connected when George gambles for steals, whether its bench shooting remains useful under pressure and whether the Celtics can win the possession count against opponents who rebound better. If those habits survive the move from preseason to the regular season, Saturday's 144 points will be remembered less as an unusual total and more as an early illustration of how Boston wants to win.
