“It Is A Badge Of Honor To Wear That Green.” - Paul George Had Himself An Absolutely Perfect Celtics Debut

Brian Babineau. Getty Images.

While the night started with footage of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown warming up on other sides of the court and not even really acknowledging each other which was obviously weird as hell to experience

The real story of the night was how fucking good the new Tatum/George partnership looked in their first minutes together as teammates. With George making his Celtics debut, I think we were all very eager to see how things looked, even while knowing that these are fake games and the Sixers were shorthanded. After everything that happened over the summer, we've all talked and talked and talked about the different ways this new duo can work and how George fits seamlessly into Mazzulla Ball. 

But before last night, it was just talk. Wishful thinking. Until you see it on the court, it's hard to know what's real and what's just a "theory" or something you're just trying to speak into existence. Well, I am happy to report that not only was Paul George's Celtics debut about as near perfect as you can get, the entire operation also looked as good as ever. 

I don't even really know where to start. I suppose we can begin with the fact that PG switching back to #13 is already working, as many of us thought it might. That wasn't Philly Paul George (#8), this was 2023-24 Paul George (#13) who played 74 games, averaged 22/5.2/3.5, and made the All Star team. We had hoped going back to his old number would unlock the PG13 of old, and so far I'd say we are trending in that direction. Huge news.

Then there was the off ball defense. Ohhhhhhhh baby the off ball defense. 

Giphy Images.

5 steals? Active hands off ball? Anticipating plays and getting into passing lanes? Picking the pocket of the ball handler? We saw it all and in my opinion we saw arguably the BIGGEST way George is going to help this team moving forward. This shouldn't really surprise anyone because George has always been an awesome on ball and off ball defender, but it was impossible not to notice how much more active he was off ball and how his presence in that area is going to help force turnovers, which leads to fastbreaks, which leads to easy offense. 

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You have to remember the approach Brad Stevens & Co fully dove into this offseason. Offensive rebounding, turnover suppression, shooting, turnover generation etc. Those are all things we saw George be impactful with in his debut. Early on, we still saw some of the not-so-great over-reliance on the midrange/long midrange, but that's mostly because George is still going through his conversion into Mazzulla Ball. Once he stopped doing that shit and played Mazzulla Ball? He and the team took off. That's not an accident. 

Next up, and perhaps the most important piece of this entire puzzle, is the fit next to Jayson Tatum. As we know, anything and everything this team now does moving forward is to accentuate and maximize Jayson Tatum. So how did these two look playing off one another for the first time? 

In a word, incredible. 

It was like watching the young version and the old version of the same player be on the court at the same time together. If you asked me to picture what a perfect outing would look like for both Tatum and George, I'd say last night's showing was pretty damn close. The way George was always looking to get Tatum the ball, the way both guys can bury you off the dribble, the passing, the defense, it's really only a question of health at this point. Basketball fit-wise? These two fit together like a glove.

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If that wasn't enough for you to remove your pants and go from 6 to midnight, this sure as shit will be

Giphy Images.

We'll forget the fact that the Celts wore their home whites in this game because this is also exactly what I want to hear from George in his Celtics debut. Is he maybe pandering to the fanbase a little bit? You bet! And I love it. He's certainly not the first player to say something like that once they finally become a part of this organization, and he certainly won't be the last. But that quote coming off the performance he had in combination with the entire team looking fantastic while they kicked the shit out of the Sixers? Yeah, that's the good shit.

So in terms of a debut? 10 out of 10, no notes. It didn't take long for everything we hoped and theorized about when it came to this pairing and how the team would operate to come to fruition, and the fun part is it's only going to get better from here.