Paul George was the third star in a playoff game. It just didn’t happen how the Sixers envisioned.

BOSTON — On a night when VJ Edgecombe and Tyrese Maxey combined for 59 points, the first two possessions of the 76ers’ stunning Game 2 victory over the Celtics were drawn up for … Paul George?

The veteran wing first sent top-tier defender Derrick White to the floor for a baseline step-back. Then George hit a turnaround jumper.

That ignited a performance that Sixers coach Nick Nurse called “outstanding,” with George totaling 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting, four rebounds, three assists, one steal, and one block in a series-tying 111-97 victory Tuesday at TD Garden. George finally became the third option in a playoff game, albeit as a calm counterpart to the dynamic backcourt duo rather than in the envisioned 1-3-5 alignment with Maxey and the sidelined Joel Embiid. George also was an important contributor in the defensive turnaround against Boston’s potent offense, which launches a bevy of three-pointers and is led by lethal scoring wings Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

» READ MORE: Tyrese Maxey’s latest playoff outburst made an improbable Game 2 victory possible: ‘He just wanted them’

Can he continue to fulfill that for the duration of this series, with Embiid’s status while recovering from an appendectomy still uncertain?

“That’s kind of the role I’ve adjusted to,” George said, “is making sure [if] they go on a run or we need a good basket or a good look, I think I can get my shot off or I can still create and find people and put us at ease. It’s just kind of be the guy that can settle us down a little bit when we need it.

“I’ve got great shot-makers around me, so my job is easy in those moments.”

George only took eight shots in Sunday’s Game 1, one sliver of a dreadful teamwide face plant. When asked after the loss about that output, George gave a direct answer about “taking what the defense was giving me and the opportunities I had.”

So Nurse wanted to get George in his spots — particularly in the post and at the elbow — at the start of Tuesday’s matchup. George again was involved early in the third quarter, when he shook free for a three-pointer, converted a finger-roll layup, and swiped a steal in the opening minute.

Once the fourth quarter arrived, Maxey told George he would be “coming to you early … got to get you going."

When Boston cut the Sixers’ lead to 84-82, George sank a high-arcing jumper over Tatum and then drew a foul on the Celtics star. Then George backed down his defender and found Justin Edwards for a three-pointer. After that, George drove into the lane and drew a foul in traffic on center Neemias Queta.

“We kind of just trusted it,” said Maxey, who added that luring more of Boston’s defense toward George helped open him up for his tremendous scoring close.

After that Game 1 blowout defeat, George was more disappointed in the Sixers’ defensive performance. He said his team did not match Boston’s physicality or create playoff-caliber intensity.

» READ MORE: VJ Edgecombe has one for the history books and the Sixers somehow stymie Boston in Game 2

Yet after the Sixers slipped into a 13-point first-half hole Tuesday, things flipped on that end of the floor. Brown scored 21 second-half points, but the Sixers limited the Celtics to 34.8% shooting and a 7-of-28 mark from three-point range after the break.

“We were locked in,” George said. “We were moving. We were flying around. We were helping one another. We can sustain that over a game, and I thought it wore on them a little bit that we were there and that we were contesting shots and we [weren’t] making it easy.

“They came out hot. We didn’t lay down. We stayed with it. We didn’t put our heads down. We just hung in there.”

Once a perennial All-Star, George has been in the position that Maxey and Edgecombe held Tuesday, pouring in points and silencing rowdy road crowds on a playoff stage. Health, age, and availability have lessened George’s role since he signed a max contract with the Sixers during the 2024 offseason. And he is still less than a month removed from returning from a 25-game suspension for violating the NBA’s anti-drug policy.

George, 35, was optimistic that the time away from games had gotten his post-knee-surgery body to a more durable and productive place. That will be tested with at least three more games against Boston on deck. In his 10 games before the postseason began, George shot 41.5% on 8.2 three-point attempts. Before this first-round series, Nurse also stressed George’s importance in guarding Tatum and Brown on the perimeter.

And George’s presence has rubbed off on the Sixers’ backcourt stars. After Game 1, Maxey shared publicly that George’s postgame message had particularly resonated with him. Late Tuesday, George sat next to Edgecombe as he discussed his impressive shot-making, which has been enhanced by additional midrange one-on-one work with George.

But the Sixers still need complementary scoring while Embiid is out. George provided that as a calm counterpart to the dynamic backcourt — especially at the top of quarters — in a Game 2 stunner.

“Guess it just seems like a good time to run his little packages,” Nurse said. “ … He makes just enough of them, I think, to keep the scoreboard moving and give us somebody we can go to to get a bucket every now and then.”