Boston beat Philadelphia 123-101 and Jaylen Brown skipped the postgame handshake with his old running mate Jayson Tatum.
Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum finally shared a court again on Tuesday at Xfinity Mobile Arena, and it did not go well for Brown's new team. The Celtics blew out the 76ers 123-101, turning what was billed as a marquee reunion into a laugher.
The real drama came before and after the final buzzer. Brown did not acknowledge Tatum when his former teammate came over to greet him pregame, which had people watching closely for any postgame interaction. After the game, Brown made the rounds and dapped up every one of his old Celtics teammates except Tatum, who was off doing an interview with NBC at the time.
That gap, both on the scoreboard and between the two former teammates, summed up the night. Tatum got the better of the individual matchup, and Boston looked like the far more cohesive group, while Philadelphia resembled a roster still figuring out how to play together. It was a rough first look at life after the blockbuster trade that split up Brown and Tatum this summer, and a reminder that chemistry does not transfer with a jersey swap.