3 Knicks to blame for embarrassing blowout to Celtics on Opening Night

It might’ve only been Game 1 of the NBA season, but the New York Knicks had a chance to make a statement. They were coming off one of their best seasons in decades, and made several major offseason moves, cementing their status as legitimate NBA Championship contenders. They had a chance to make their mark and prove how legitimate they were by facing off against the defending NBA Champion Boston Celtics on ring night. It did not go well.

The end of the first quarter saw New York down by 19 points. They trailed by as many as 35 points in a 132-109 loss. The Celtics made 29 three-pointers and, by the end of the game, were just chucking up shots from downtown, trying to break the NBA record of 30 in a single game.

It’s only Game 1, but this was a brutal showing by the Knicks. There’s no way around that. Everyone deserves blame for an embarrassing loss like this, but these three players stick out in particular.

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The Knicks made a couple of major blockbusters, one of which saw the team acquire Karl-Anthony Towns from the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Towns addition not only gave the Knicks Mitchell Robinson insurance, but also allowed them to spread the floor unlike any team other than the Celtics. Unfortunately, his Knicks debut was a bit of a dud.

He did shoot 5-for-9 from the field and grab seven rebounds, but Towns only finished the game with 12 points and a total of two three-point attempts. Towns attempted over five threes per game last season and over four threes per game in his career, yet he only attempted two in 24 minutes.

With the Celtics hitting threes at will on the other side, the Knicks needed more volume from Towns to match up. Would it have made a difference? Probably not, but we’ve seen Towns get red-hot from downtown before. Hopefully, we will see Towns shoot more as the season progresses.

Trading for Towns was huge, obviously, but the big splash New York made was acquiring Mikal Bridges in a deal with the Brooklyn Nets. New York parted with five unprotected first-round picks alongside other assets to get their hands on Bridges, another Villanova product, to give themselves another elite 3-and-D wing. Unfortunately, Bridges didn’t show up on either side of the ball.

His final line of 16 points on 7-for-13 shooting and 2-for-7 from three-point range wasn’t awful, but a deeper dive shows just how bad he was. Bridges went scoreless in the first half, going 0-for-5 from the field and 0-for-4 from three-point range. His defense was non-existent, as evidenced by Boston’s offensive onslaught. Overall, the Knicks were a -33 when he was on the floor. The next-worst player was -23.

It was good to see Bridges get going offensively with the game all but out of reach, but New York is going to need a whole lot more than what they got from Bridges to justify him being close to worth what they gave up to get him. His game was almost as ugly as his new-look shot. Hopefully, as is the case with Towns, he gets more comfortable as he continues to adapt to his new team.

The trades for Towns and Bridges were the two biggest moves New York made this offseason, but the OG Anunoby extension cannot be ignored. Anunoby re-signed with the Knicks, inking a five-year deal worth $215.5 million – over $40 million annually.

That contract, while expensive, made a lot of sense for a Knicks team all-in on trying to win right now. Anunoby is one of the premier role players in the NBA, and proved to be a perfect fit with the Knicks after being acquired in the middle of the 2023-24 campaign. Game 1 of the 2024-25 season didn’t come close to justifying this deal. Anunoby looked like the worst player on the floor.

The 27-year-old went 1-for-7 from the field and 0-for-4 from three-point range while playing 34 minutes. He scored four points on the night, finishing just one personal foul shy of matching that total.

Anunoby won’t be perfect shooting the ball every night, but his calling card is supposed to be his defense. That did not show up either. Jayson Tatum and the rest of this Celtics team dominated from start to finish, and New York’s best defender did nothing to contain them.