Within the first six minutes of sharing a court with Jayson Tatum, Paul George jumped a transition pass and spotted him sprinting ahead. One outlet pass later, Tatum was finishing a two-hand slam at the TD Garden.

It was the first time the pair had played together, and the first visible evidence of a partnership the Celtics went looking for in July when they traded Jaylen Brown to Philadelphia to acquire George. Boston won 144-106 and moved to 2-0 in preseason play.

What stood out to Tatum was not the dunk, but the person who threw the pass.

“It’s kind of surreal, a little bit,” he told reporters, explaining that he “was in high school kind of modeling my game after him and watching film of him when I was in high school and college.”

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That admission has been sitting with George since training camp. When he was asked earlier in the fall about Tatum calling him an influence, he told reporters the moment hit him in a way he had not expected.

“That was sentimental,” George said.

George’s debut: 13 points, five steals

The numbers were quiet by George’s standards. He finished with 13 points on 3-of-10 shooting, five rebounds, four assists and five steals across 25 minutes, according to CBS Sports. Four of those steals came in the first half.

At 36, that is the version of himself George is leaning into. Philadelphia was without Joel Embiid and LeBron James, as well as the traded Brown, so the test was limited. But George made clear that his offence is still a work in progress and his impact, for now, is going to come at the other end.

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“I’m still trying to find my way offensively and figuring out the system. It’s been a challenge, a great challenge,” he told the Boston Globe. “But for sure, defensively, is where I’ve always taken pride in making plays and trying to win every possession.”

‘My aggression takes the pressure off him’

George was explicit about the division of labour with Tatum. He is not in Boston to be the first option.

“My job is to try to make this as easy as possible for him. Today was the first opportunity to kind of learn each other and get a feel for one another,” he said after the game. “He’s going to be special, he knows how to make plays, how to get his own shot. But my aggression takes the pressure off him.”

He has carried that line through the entire buildup. In a separate conversation with 98.5 The Sports Hub relayed by Yahoo Sports, George framed Tatum as the one he was there to serve.

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“JT is ‘the guy,’ right? I’m here and want to be here to help him be the best version and help him be in that MVP conversation.”

Tatum, for his part, is already looking past the preseason.

“Obviously, it’s preseason and we’ve got a long way to go, but we do see the strides that we made as a unit from the first day,” he told reporters at TD Garden.

Boston host Charlotte at TD Garden on Wednesday in the third of their four preseason games.

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