Jaylen Brown’s ‘revenge game’ was a dud compared to others

​But despite all the drama around Brown’s fractured relationship with Jayson Tatum and his salty sentiment toward the Celtics, the 2024 NBA Finals MVP couldn’t twist the knife against his old team in one of the most anticipated games of the 2026-27 season.

Beyond giving Tatum the cold shoulder before tip-off, Brown didn’t make much of an impression against Boston — running into foul trouble early en route to an eventual 123-101 Celtics win in Philadelphia.

Brown finished with just 13 points — posting four turnovers and a team-worst minus-27 over 26 minutes.

All things considered, former Sixers wing Paul George exacted the most revenge on his former team on Tuesday, leading Boston with 36 points in the blowout win. 

“I was looking forward to this. I was looking forward to, you know, playing well. But you know, [expletive] happens,” Brown said postgame. “Just get ready for the next one, I guess.”

While Brown’s efforts of doling out pain against his former team ended up being a dud, Boston sports fans have felt the sting several times over when it comes to once-cherished stars making their old squads pay.

Roger Clemens

​Brad Stevens and the Celtics’ top brass are probably feeling pretty validated after Jaylen Brown labored and Paul George dominated for their respective teams on Tuesday night.

​Fair to say, former Red Sox GM Dan Duquette couldn’t take part in the same victory lap once Roger Clemens returned to Fenway Park in 1997 as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays.

​While Duquette noted that the Red Sox wanted to re-sign Clemens after the 1996 season amid the “twilight of his career,” the 34-year-old righty opted to sign with the Blue Jays on a four-year, $40 million contract.

Duquette’s candid remarks about Clemens weren’t without merit — given that he went 40-39 over his final four years in Boston with a 3.77 ERA. ​

But Clemens clearly took Duquette’s commentary on his career timeline personally—as shown by his first outing against his longtime team.

Clemens was nearly untouchable in his start against the Red Sox at Fenway Park on July 12, 1997 — pitching eight innings, allowing one run, and striking out 16 batters while allowing no walks.

Throughout his masterclass outing, Clemens frequently looked up at the Red Sox executive suite — where Duquette was watching — as he made his way back to the dugout.

Clemens was far from the twilight of his career, as he won the AL Cy Young Award in both of his seasons with the Blue Jays, going 41-13 with a 2.33 ERA and 563 strikeouts over 498.2 innings.

In total, Clemens pitched another 11 seasons after spending the first 13 years of his career in Boston — winning four Cy Young Awards during his post-Boston stretch, along with a pair of World Series titles with the Yankees in 1999 and 2000.​

Over those 11 seasons with Toronto, New York, and Houston, Clemens went 162-73 with a 3.21 ERA.

While Clemens made the Red Sox pay in short order, Pedro Martinez followed a similar script to Brown with his anticipated rematch with Boston in June 2006.

Martinez’s return to Fenway as a member of the Mets ultimately ended up being a stinker — allowing eight total runs (six earned) over three innings of work.

Tom Brady

The drama and build-up for Brown vs. Tatum stood as one of the top storylines in the NBA to start this season.

But that discourse paled in comparison to the hype that built as soon as the NFL announced that Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were coming to Gillette Stadium during the 2021 season.

Even though the Patriots were about to feel the sting of an inevitable rebuild in the post-Brady era, the showdown against the reigning Super Bowl champions had about as much pomp surrounding it as a championship game — with NBC even dropping a memorable promo featuring Adele’s “Hello” amid a backdrop of Brady and Bill Belichick meeting on opposite sidelines.

For all the fears of a maniacal competitor like Brady uncorking an aerial assault in Foxborough, the Patriots under Belichick and led by rookie QB Mac Jones held their own against the Bucs for most of the night.

Brady’s final stat line wasn’t all that impressive (22-of-43, 0 touchdowns, 0 interceptions) in his first (and only) game against the Patriots.

But as he did countless times during his 20 seasons in New England, Brady orchestrated a fourth-quarter drive to win the game — pushing Tampa downfield just enough for Ryan Succop to hit a 48-yard field goal and give the visitors a 19-17 win.

With that victory, Brady recorded at least one win over every team in the NFL.

New England’s decision to let Brady walk after the 2019 season proved disastrous.

Beyond leading Tampa Bay to a Super Bowl title in 2020, Brady was arguably the league’s best QB during his three years with the Bucs — completing 66.7 percent of his passes for 14,643 yards, 108 touchdowns, and 33 interceptions.

Rafael Devers

Devers might hold court as one of the more polarizing stars in recent Boston sports history — a thought validated by the barrage of boos he received in his first game back at Fenway Park earlier this year.

The 2018 World Series champion and noted masher of Yankees pitching quickly became persona non grata in Boston amid a tumultuous 2025 season where he initially refused to move off third base to accommodate Alex Bregman, then chose not to play first base following Triston Casas’ season-ending injury — leading to the Red Sox dealing him to the Giants.

It didn’t take long for Devers to face off against his former team — playing Boston less than a week after the trade while the Red Sox were on a West Coast road trip.

While Devers went 0-for-5 in his first game against Boston, he slugged a home run in the second game of the series at Oracle Park.

Devers also made his presence felt in his first game at Fenway this year — smashing a pitch into the center-field seats in an eventual 6-4 win for the Red Sox.

​Devers — who has played both DH and first base for San Francisco — has had a tumultuous tenure so far with the Giants.

But his pop at the plate has been missed in Boston’s listless lineup over the last two years — with the slugger hitting 37 home runs and driving in 98 runs in 2026.

Curtis Martin

Given Bill Belichick’s propensity to cut key cogs and franchise stalwarts often a year before their decline (rather than a year too late), the Patriots had no shortage of “revenge games” on their docket each season, with former players looking to get even against New England. ​

But before Belichick took over the reins, the Patriots felt the sting of head coach Bill Parcells’ departure for the Jets in numerous ways.

Beyond the brain drain of Parcells joining the Jets after the 1996 season, New York managed to pluck star running back Curtis Martin from New England — with the restricted free agent signing with the Jets to team up with Parcells.

It was a brutal setback for New England, given that Martin emerged as an immediate game changer over his three-season tenure in Foxborough — averaging 1,266 rushing yards and nearly 11 touchdowns per year.

In his first game against New England on Oct. 19, 1998, Martin rushed for 107 yards against his former team in what was a 24-14 win for the Jets.

Martin went on to play the final eight seasons of his career with the Jets — eventually earning a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2012.

Mookie Betts

While the immediate aftermath of the Brown/George trade had Celtics fans reeling, the Red Sox’ decision to deal superstar outfielder Mookie Betts to the Dodgers in 2020 still stands as the most painful swap in recent Boston sports history.

Boston’s decision to deal Betts has been one of the greatest fumbles in franchise history — with Betts going on to win three World Series titles and post three top-five finishes in NL MVP voting over his seven seasons with the Dodgers.

Of the assets Boston received from the Dodgers to acquire Betts, only catcher Connor Wong remains on the current Red Sox roster as a depth backstop.

Red Sox fans gave Betts a standing ovation in his first game back at Fenway Park in August 2023 — with the star outfielder hitting a double and scoring the eventual game-winning run in Los Angeles’ 7-4 win.

He was a force in the final game of that three-game set at his former home ballpark — collecting three hits, including a two-run homer into the Green Monster seats.​

Ray Allen

Danny Ainge and the Celtics’ ruthless roster management — especially in the waning years of the team’s latest “Big Three” era — led to several games where former Boston legends returned to the parquet floor in different jerseys.

Like Jaylen Brown, both Paul Pierce (4 points, 0-for-3, 22 minutes) and Kevin Garnett (11 points) had quiet games against the Celtics during their unceremonious tenures with the Nets.

Rajon Rondo fared much better in his first game back at TD Garden with the Mavericks in 2015, scoring 29 points with six rebounds and five assists. ​

But it was Ray Allen’s departure in free agency after the 2011-12 season that rankled the Celtics — especially with the sharpshooter choosing to sign with Boston’s top competition in the Eastern Conference in the Miami Heat.

Garnett — who had a decade-long beef with Allen until finally mending fences in 2022 during the former’s jersey retirement in Boston — didn’t shake the Heat guard’s hand ahead of their meeting as foes in October 2012.

But Allen (19 points) had the last laugh, with the Heat beating the Celtics in that game, 120-107, en route to eventually winning a championship later that season.

Johnny Damon

All things considered, Damon had a far-from-impressive performance in his first game back at Fenway as a member of the Yankees — going 0-for-4 at the plate in an eventual 7-3 Red Sox win.

But the game itself had no shortage of entertainment, especially after Damon chose to sign with the Yankees in free agency amid the most heated chapter of the Boston/New York rivalry.

As expected, Damon was serenaded with boos  — with posters with phrases like “Looks Like Jesus. Acts Like Judas” littering the seats around Fenway.

That May 1, 2006 game was also noteworthy for the return of backup catcher Doug Mirabelli — who received an emergency police escort from Logan Airport to Fenway Park after Boston traded for him to catch Tim Wakefield’s fluttering knuckleball once again.

Mirabelli touched down at Logan at 6:48 p.m. and miraculously arrived at Fenway Park just before first pitch at 7:13 — getting out of the police escort and his full Red Sox uniform and catching seven innings from Wakefield that night.

Brad Marchand

There hasn’t been much animosity between the Bruins and former captain Brad Marchand since he was dealt in March 2025 — even if Boston traded him to one of its top rivals, the Florida Panthers.

But Marchand — who played a key role in helping Florida win another Stanley Cup later that season — did do some damage in his first game back at TD Garden in October 2025.

Marchand recorded an assist just 61 seconds into the game against his former team, picking up another apple later in an eventual 4-3 Panthers win.

But Marchand’s return was still cathartic for both the longtime Bruins winger and fans — as he fought through tears during his tribute video before saluting the crowd on Causeway Street.

Time will tell if Brown will receive a similar ovation when he returns to TD Garden for the first time on Jan. 21.

Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.

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