Jayson Tatum continued Boston’s Banner 18 celebration scoring 37 factors and making eight of the Celtics’ NBA-record 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 dished out 10 assists for the defending champions, who raised their 18th NBA championship banner earlier than the sport. Boston led by as many as 35 factors earlier than lacking its remaining 13 3-point makes an attempt whereas making an attempt to interrupt the document.
Jalen Brunson scored 22 factors for New York, and new addition Karl-Anthony Towns had simply 12 factors and 7 rebounds.
With the Celtics main by greater than 20 factors early within the third quarter, the eye of the TD Garden crowd turned away from the basketball sport and started chanting “Yankees Suck!”
Takeaway
The new-look Knicks have been anticipated to be the Celtics’ greatest menace within the Eastern Conference, however even after including Towns and Mikal Bridges over the summer time, they have been no match for the group that led 14 video games final season .
Key second
On July 28, U.S. Olympic basketball coach Steve Kerr benched Tatum for a sport towards Serbia, guaranteeing that Tatum could be motivated for the Celtics’ title protection.
Key statistic
The Celtics hit their twenty ninth 3-pointer early within the fourth quarter, then fired two lengthy airballs and 13 straight misses from past the arc as they aimed for the document set in 2020 by Milwaukee. The crowd chanted “One extra 3!” within the remaining minutes, however on Boston’s remaining possession Payton Pritchard dribbled previous the shot clock with out making one other try.
Next
The Celtics go to Washington on Thursday and the Knicks will play their residence opener towards Indiana on Friday.
Associated Press reporting.
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