Jaylen Brown was a "little bit frustrated" but did not feel he let his emotions get the better of him during a much-anticipated reunion with Jayson Tatum.

It was Tatum and the Boston Celtics who came out on top against the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday, as they won 123-101.

While all the pre-game hype centred around the tense relationship between former Boston teammates Brown and Tatum, it was Paul George - who the Sixers traded to the Celtics in return for Brown - who stole the show.

George finished with 36 points in a blowout victory, though after the game, the focus was once again on the Brown-Tatum angle.

Brown seemed to blatantly ignore Tatum before tip-off, but he then went on to have one of his poorest games for the Sixers, recording just 13 points.

However, Brown refuted the idea that his emotions got the better of him.

"I was looking forward to this," said Brown, who had 13 fouls called against him. "I was looking forward to playing well, but s*** happens. Get ready for the next one, I guess.

GOOD MORNING. TALK TO US NICE. https://t.co/cBwRY3vXXl

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"I'm a bit frustrated, honestly.

"I didn't have any emotion. I was locked in. I was focused, I was ready to go. Foul trouble kind of took me out of my rhythm a little bit. I had to sit for a while, and we didn't execute as well as they did."

Tatum, meanwhile, scored 21 points.

"I'm just focused on doing what's best for my team," Brown said. "Everything else was just, to be honest, I wasn't paying attention, but credit to Jayson; he played well tonight."

George, meanwhile, told NBC: "I'm a little bit better with more usage, and that's no knock to how my opportunities here with Philly, you know, quite frankly I wasn't healthy to take on the workload that I feel I'm at my best at.

"But here in Boston they gave me an opportunity to come out here and play and be myself."