3 studs, 3 duds from the Celtics' 50-point preseason win over the 76ers

When it was announced that the Philadelphia 76ers would not be playing their starters, this game was supposed to be a blowout, but the Boston Celtics took things to another level. They absolutely dominated the Sixers, earning a 139-89 victory in their first preseason game at TD Garden.

The starters received longer minutes in this game as Joe Mazzulla seemed to want to please the home fans. (Or just wanted to start strengthening his guys for the regular season.) The backup big man rotation shined, with Jaylen Brown turning into Steve Nash and Sam Hauser coming in automatically from deep.

Here are three guys and two duds from Boston's preseason win over Philadelphia.

The reigning Finals MVP was aggressive early in this game, but not necessarily on the scoresheet. Jaylen Brown went for an assist early in the first period, finding Jrue Holiday and Luke Kornet (twice) down the court for easy layups.

Brown's ball-handling put him in the right spots, and his improving awareness helped him locate his teammates in the ranks of Philadelphia's defense.

A quick look at the box score would show that Jayson Tatum had a solid performance on Friday night. And for the most part he did. Tatum finished the night with 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists while shooting 5 of 11 from the field and 3 of 8 from three-point range. But sometimes his control was out of control.

At the start of the game, Tatum regularly went to the referees after assuming there were fouls. But there were ball losses in the penalty area. He just felt a little too loose with the ball in his hands.

Wilt Chamberlain made an early appearance Friday night, but took the form of Luke Kornet. When he was substituted for Xavier Tillman midway through the first quarter, Kornet had scored 11 points and four rebounds and was dominating the court.

Brown was Steve Nash to Kornet's Amar'e Stoudemire in the first part. Kornet didn't go anywhere without Brown finding him, and the result was a dominant quarter.

And Kornet didn't stop there. He finished the game with 15 points, eight rebounds and two assists while shooting 7 of 10 from the floor.

Joe Mazzulla recently said that the Celtics are open to trying other starting lineups and that Kornet could be a serious option in place of Al Horford. Kornet appears to be good enough to play big minutes this year, and if the Celtics can rest Horford more than they originally intended, that would be a big win.

Bonus: Speaking of the Celtics' big men, Tillman looked incredible in this game as well. He spent time at the four and five, but no matter what role he played, Tillman seemed to be in the right place.

Whether it was smashing the glass on the offensive boards or scoring three points when they came his way, Tillman had a hand in everything in this Boston win. (But he still needs to work on his touch at the rim a bit.)

Tillman and Kornet (and Neemias Queta) appear more than capable of filling in for the Celtics while Kristaps Porzingis is out.

There were times in this game where Baylor Scheierman looked good. He made a three-pointer (and stared at the 76ers' bench), scampered a bit on the glass and even made a nice cut off the ball in the fourth period. All good things for a rookie.

But the rest of the time he was completely off and his three-point shot just looked shaky.

Many players have success shooting strange-looking three-pointers, but Scheierman didn't seem like the type of guy who could consistently knock down catch-and-shoot threes. He looks more like a volume shooter.

Add in a few sub-optimal fouls and one or two poor defensive players, and Scheierman still has something to prove.

You can only take so much from a preseason game, but Sam Hauser prepared the 76ers' D-tier squad on Friday night. At three past three he almost set the nylon on fire.

Watching Hauser shoot a basketball is like watching an AI robot programmed not to miss a three-point shot. (And if he does, one can only assume that something got messed up in the coding.)

It is truly an incredible experience to witness.

This has nothing to do with Jaden Springer as a player, but it was strange to see him sitting on the bench Friday night. These are the types of games he should thrive in, and he hasn't even sniffed the floor.

Springer was a DNP in this game and was not on the injury report prior to the game. There is no indication that he is suffering from any illness, but his lack of playing time has been strange to say the least.