The Boston Celtics began their title defense with an emphatic statement against one of their primary Eastern Conference competitors.
Boston opened the 2024-25 NBA season with a 132-109 victory over the New York Knicks. The Celtics shot 50.5 percent from the floor and matched an NBA record by making 29 three-pointers at TD Garden. Jayson Tatum led the way with 37 points, going 8-of-11 from downtown.
After the game, a reporter asked Josh Hart if the Celtics did anything different to create open perimeter looks. The Knicks guard jokingly encouraged the league to screen the entire Celtics team for performance-enhancing substances.
“I don’t know. The NBA needs to drug test all of them. I’ll tell you that right now,” Hart said, via SNY. “I ain’t never seen nothing like that before.”
Hart credited an “explosive” Celtics team that fed off the “contagious” energy in the arena after receiving their championship rings. However, the 29-year-old isn’t panicking after one loss.
“They played extremely well,” Hart added. “We’ll look at it. We’ll learn from it, look at some of the defensive missteps that we had.”
After leading the NBA in three-point makes (16.5) and attempts (42.5) per game last season, Boston opened the new season even more aggressively from behind the arc. The Celtics took a whopping 61 threes.
Their starting five made a resounding 26 of 41 triples, including 10 in the first quarter. Boston jumped to a 74-55 halftime lead and never looked back.
It wasn’t an ideal start for a new-look Knicks roster that acquired Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns during the offseason. They added more offensive firepower to keep up with Boston, but New York still proved no match for the champs on Tuesday night.
The Celtics will try to stay hot against the Washington Wizards on Thursday night while the Knicks attempt to pay back the Indiana Pacers in Friday’s playoff rematch.
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