The defending champions Boston Celtics are more than ready to defend the title they won last June. After receiving the rings and raising the traditional “banner” number 18 in the history of the franchise, coach Joe Mazzulla’s team absolutely dominated the first game against the charging New York Knicks, reaching +20 already towards the end of the first quarter and always maintaining at least 15 points of advantage for the rest of the evening, until reaching +35 in the last quarter. An absolute domination with a common dominator: the three-point shot.
The Celtics in fact shot spectacularly, making 60% from the arc in the first 40 minutes of the game. When Al Horford made the team’s 29th three-pointer with 8:54 left in the fourth quarter, tying the all-time record set by the Milwaukee Bucks on December 29, 2020 against Miami, the new record for team three-pointers in a single game seemed like a simple formality. The Celtics missed their last 13 shots from the arc, dirtying their percentages (29/61 in the end, still equal to 47.5%) and giving the only disappointment of the evening to the home fans, who sang “One More Three” for a long time to push their players to the record.
When the Celtics play like this there is nothing you can really do to stop them, especially on their home court. It is still a nice bath of humility for the new New York Knicks, never really competitive despite the arrivals in the summer of Mikal Bridges (16 points for him) and Karl-Anthony Towns (12 with 7 rebounds). The Knicks defense never managed to put the home team’s offense in trouble (33 assists against only 3 turnovers), barely finding 22 points from Jalen Brunson and Miles McBride on the other side. “The NBA needs to test all of them, I’ve never seen anything like this,” Josh Hart said, trying to laugh it off after a night in which the Knicks saw first-hand how far they are from the reigning champions.