The Boston Celtics bought the 2024-25 NBA season underway on Tuesday evening and so they kicked off the marketing campaign with a convincing win over the Knicks at TD Backyard.
Celtics Dominate Knicks
Boston had been celebrating on Tuesday evening and though the Knicks got here to spoil the Celtics banner elevating ceremony, they weren’t in a position to cease final 12 months’s NBA champions.
Their 18th championship banner was raised into the rafters earlier than the sport with among the gamers stepping onto the court docket to handle followers and thank them for the final 12 months.
One of many best Celtics groups of all time 🏆 pic.twitter.com/6AGanhmHhT
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) October 22, 2024
Boston’s roster is sort of precisely the identical as final 12 months after 13 gamers resigned from the championship successful 12 months and so they kicked off the season in the identical manor they completed final yea – dominant.
Jayson Tatum went off on opening evening and regardless of solely taking part in three quarters in his first sport of the 12 months, the 26-year-old nonetheless managed 37 factors, 10 assists and 4 rebounds in simply half an hour on the ground.
Though they had been with out Kristaps Porzingis as he recovers from surgical procedure in the summertime, the Celtics didn’t battle at any level in opposition to New York and so they went on to win by 23 factors – emptying the bench for the ultimate quarter.
Jaylen Brown and Derrick White each went off for over 20 factors every, however the entire Boston workforce contributed to an essential first win on opening evening. The Celtics play their second sport of the season on Thursday afternoon with a highway journey to Washington.
Trigger For Concern For Knicks?
Though there is no such thing as a disgrace to dropping to final season’s championship winners, the Knicks had been dismantled by Boston on Tuesday evening and there might be trigger for concern after only one sport this 12 months.
New York struggled on protection all through the evening and so they shipped 132 factors within the sport, with Boston breaking all kinds of franchise data in an offensive masterclass.
A lot in contrast to their opponents on Tuesday, the Knicks have a really new-look workforce this 12 months and each Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Cities began for New York.
Bridges was clearly making an attempt a brand new type of leap shot in heat ups and it was tough to look at him battle with it throughout the sport, however New York’s latest star lastly began to get right into a rhythm when he switched again to his outdated shot.
Mikal Bridges leap shot seems damaged🥶
pic.twitter.com/m80bxcBGDS— NetsFrequent 👑 (@NetsFrequent) October 19, 2024
Bridges completed with 16 factors in a disappointing debut but it surely may have been loads worse if he caught with the brand new shot method. KAT was additionally disappointing with seven rebounds and 12 factors however he was on the ground for simply 24 minutes, 11 lower than Bridges.
If there’s one participant the Knicks can depend on, it’s new workforce captain Jalen Brunson. Brunson as traditional carried the Knicks going ahead with 22 factors, a tally that solely McBride may match from the bench.
There gained’t be an excessive amount of concern in New York simply but however they key takeaway from their opening evening loss could be that the protection actually wants engaged on and shortly.
