Inside the Celtics Locker Room: Celtics react to Opening Night win over Sixers

BOSTON - The Boston Celtics got their first win of the 2018-19 season on Tuesday night at TD Garden, defeating the Philadelphia 76ers by a score of 105-87.

Brad Stevens said the Sixers kept his team off-balance by constantly changing their matchups, but added some praise for Jayson Tatum, who finished with a game-high 23 points. “We need him to be great,” said Stevens of the 20-year-old. “He’s a good player and we need him to be good.”

Kyrie Irving had a tough shooting night in his return to the TD Garden floor, going 2/14 for 7 points. Despite his disappointing numbers, the Celtics’ point guard was happy to be back out there with his teammates. “I just had a big smile when they announced my name again, and having Gordon out there, playing with Al and JB and JT again. And just really getting a sense of playing for the Boston Celtics again. I had missed it so much.”

Gordon Hayward joined Irving in that same mindset, as the all-star forward played his first meaningful game since last season’s opener in Cleveland. “It was amazing to just be out there on the court again for a regular season game. My adrenaline was definitely bumping those first 3 or 4 minutes, I think everyone’s adrenaline was bumping, it was sloppy at first, but it was great to just be out there.”

Check out all of the postgame sounds from last night’s win below:

Brad Stevens:

Kyrie Irving:

Gordon Hayward:

Jayson Tatum:

Marcus Morris: