Boston Celtics: Paul George Doing Things No Player in Eastern Conference Has Done

While Tuesday night's game between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers was supposed to be about Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown's first battle against each other, it ended up being about Paul George's dominance in his return to Philadelphia.

George, who was traded for Brown this summer, ended up stealing the show, scoring a game-high 36 points as the Celtics won 123-111. In just 30 minutes of action, he was 14-of-22 from the floor and also 6-of-11 from 3-point range. He had five rebounds and an assist.

As noted by @Celtics_stats on social media, George is the only Eastern Conference player this season with multiple games of at least 35 points and five threes in a game.

That's right: Not Donovan Mitchell, not LeBron James, not James Harden, not Tyrese Haliburton, not Tyrese Maxey, not Tatum, but George.

The 36-year-old has been excellent for Boston this season, averaging 22.0 ppg and 5.2 rebounds.

There are questions about whether or not he can stay healthy enough to help the Celtics reach their ultimate goals, but there's no question about whether or not he's still good enough to help be a key piece of a very good team.

The Celtics are 9-2 on the season and own the best record in the Eastern Conference. While I said all along that I thought Boston was headed for a No. 5 or No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference, a healthy George obviously raises that floor significantly.

In addition to George, Tatum had a solid game, scoring 21 points. Brown had just 13 as he was saddled with foul trouble in the early going.

Boston will play another road game on Wednesday against the Toronto Raptors, who enter play at 5-5 and in sixth place in the Eastern Conference. They are currently playing without Kawhi Leonard, who is out with injury.

Tip-off time is set for 7 p.m. ET and it remains unclear at this time if George will play. He has played in a back-to-back this season, but he rested on the back-end of another one.

The Celtics are doing what they can to keep players healthy, so it wouldn't be a surprise if George did set in order to get ready for the Nov. 15 showdown against the Dallas Mavericks.

That game will feature Kyrie Irving's return to Boston and Cooper Flagg's return to New England as he grew up in Maine.