Boston outscored Philadelphia in three of four quarters and never trailed again after an early 8-0 Sixers run, closing at 144-106 behind a bench that outscored the starters, 70-63. Payton Pritchard's 25 points and plus-35 topped a box score where almost nobody in a Celtics uniform finished in the red.
The reserves did more scoring than the starters did.
Pritchard went 7-of-12 with five triples and seven assists in 25 minutes, the top plus-minus of the night at +35. Hugo Gonzalez matched him for efficiency, 6-of-7 with four threes for 17 points in 21 minutes, and Sam Hauser added 11 on 4-of-6. Luka Garza chipped in 8 and 7 boards in 11 minutes. Add it up and Boston's bench outscored its own starters, 70-63, in a lineup that barely resembled the one that opens the regular season.
Tatum and George played real minutes without matching efficiency.
Tatum logged 23 points on 9-of-19 shooting, 4-of-10 from three, in his first extended run since clearing a pregame injury listing that morning. George, making his Celtics debut after the offseason trade that sent him to Boston, shot 3-of-10 and 2-of-7 from deep but offset it with five steals in 25 minutes. Both finished +19 — positive mostly by proximity to a blowout, not by their own shot-making.
Philadelphia's only lead came early and briefly.
The Sixers opened an 8-0 run that made it 8-2, the one lead change in a game with zero ties. From there the quarters ran 24-20, 39-22, 41-27 and 40-37 in Boston's favor, building to a 45-point cushion. Boston's closing five — Scheierman, Cenac, Mitchell, Gonzalez and Garza — played out the final minutes against Philadelphia's own reserves, which is the usual fate of preseason blowouts: the standings column stays blank either way.
The rematch arrives before either roster settles.
Boston gets four days before hosting Charlotte on October 14; Philadelphia gets six before this pairing runs again, in Philadelphia, on October 16. Both results carry zero standings weight, but the second meeting will say more about who plays when games count, with Jaylen Brown's workload against his old team still an open question and Garza now carrying a fresh injury listing to monitor into that stretch.
Who led the Celtics bench in the win over Philadelphia?
Payton Pritchard, with 25 points on 7-of-12 shooting and a plus-35 in 25 minutes, the best mark on either side.
When do the Celtics play the 76ers again?
Six days later, on October 16, in Philadelphia — still preseason, with no bearing on the regular-season schedule that starts October 20 in Detroit.
