Jayson Tatum continued Boston’s Banner 18 celebration by scoring 37 factors and making eight of the Celtics’ NBA record-tying 29 3-pointers on Tuesday as Boston ran away with a 132-109 victory over the New York Knicks on opening night time.
Derrick White scored 24 factors, Jaylen Brown added 23 and Tatum had 10 assists for the defending champions, who raised their NBA-most 18th championship banner to the rafters earlier than the sport. Boston led by as many as 35 factors earlier than lacking its final 13 3-point makes an attempt whereas making an attempt to interrupt the file.
Jalen Brunson scored 22 factors for New York, and new addition Karl-Anthony Cities had simply 12 factors and 7 rebounds.
With the Celtics main by greater than 20 factors early within the third quarter, the TD Backyard crowd’s consideration strayed from the basketball sport and it started chanting “Yankees Suck!”
Takeaways
The brand new-look Knicks have been presupposed to be the largest menace to the Celtics within the Japanese Convention, however even after including Cities and Mikal Bridges over the summer time, they have been no match for the crew that completed 14 video games in entrance final season.
Key second
On July 28, U.S. Olympic basketball coach Steve Kerr benched Tatum for a sport towards Serbia, guaranteeing Tatum could be motivated for the Celtics’ title protection.
Key stat
The Celtics hit their twenty ninth 3-pointer early within the fourth quarter, then fired up two lengthy airballs and 13 misses in a row from past the arc as they went for the file set in 2020 by Milwaukee. The gang chanted “Another 3!” within the closing minutes, however on Boston’s final possession Payton Pritchard dribbled out the shot clock with out making one other try.
Up subsequent
The Celtics go to Washington on Thursday and the Knicks play their house opener towards Indiana on Friday.
Reporting by The Related Press.
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