Knicks-Celtics: 5 takeaways from opening night

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BOSTON — The first game of the 2024-25 NBA season did nothing to dispel the notion that the defending champion Boston Celtics are the clear favorites to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy again.

Game 1 of 1,230 was a thorough domination by the champs of the team many expect to be their toughest competition in the Eastern Conference, a 132-109 victory over the New York Knicks in which the Celtics tied the NBA single-game record with 29 3-pointers.

Here are some notes, quotes, numbers and film as Boston got its 20th victory by at least 20 points since the start of last season.

1. Threes aplenty

The Celtics led the league in 3-point rate last season, taking 47.1% of their shots from beyond the arc. On Tuesday, they took 64% of their shots from beyond the arc, and for good reasons.

For one, they were going in. When the Celtics tied the record for 3s in a game with 8:54 left in the fourth quarter, they were 29-for-48 (60.4%) from deep. Jayson Tatum was on fire, going 8-for-11 as he tallied a game-high 37 points.

But most of those 3-point attempts were also good shots, open and in rhythm. The Celtics are a championship team with an elite offense, and they brought everybody back.

“I feel like we just kind of picked up where we left off last year,” Tatum said. “We play to our strengths.”

Over the last 8 1/2 minutes of the game, the Celtics had 13 tries (some not-so-good shots included) to break the record … and missed them all. Even with all those misses at the end, they scored more efficiently on Tuesday – 132 points on 91 possessions (145.1 per 100) – than any team did against the Knicks all of last season, including the playoffs.

There will be a day when a team makes 30 3-pointers in a game. And this team is a strong candidate to do it.

2. Attacking Towns pays off

The Celtics’ offense is fairly simple. They identify the opponent’s weakest defenders, and they put them in front of Tatum or Jaylen Brown. Those guys attack, and if they don’t have a shot themselves, they bend the defense, move the ball, and it eventually finds a good shot.

On Tuesday, their primary target was new Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns.

Towns was guarding Al Horford, and on the first possession of the game, Horford set a ball screen for Tatum. Towns was in “drop” coverage, backing up so that Tatum wouldn’t drive past him. And with plenty of space, Tatum just stepped into a pullup 3:

After Tatum hit a few more 3s off the dribble, Towns was forced to play higher in the pick-and-roll. And that just opened up better shots for Boston.

Midway through the third quarter, Horford set another screen for Tatum. Towns was up high, while Mikal Bridges fought over the screen to get back to his man. With the attention of two defenders, Tatum made the right play and got the ball to Horford, who swung it to Derrick White for an open 3.

On the very next possession, Horford set another screen for Tatum, putting Bridges and Towns on the ball again. This time, OG Anunoby rotated up to Horford, preventing the pick-and-pop pass.

So White flashed to the middle of the floor, drawing Josh Hart off of Jaylen Brown in the right corner. One pass later, Brown had another open, in-rhythm 3:

Simple basketball. Pick a matchup to exploit. Gain an advantage. Find an open shot.

With his 37 points, Tatum also had 10 assists. And he generated more buckets than that.

“We work on reads every single day in practice,” Tatum said, “and that’s essentially all we do. We got plays and things, but we just make reads. We know where to be, we know when to cut, we know when to space the floor, and we know when to make the extra pass.”

3. Celtics unafraid to guard bigs with guards

Doing the same against the Celtics isn’t so simple, because they have better defenders. If the champs have one weakness, it’s Horford defending the pick-and-roll, and he got burned off the dribble multiple times on Tuesday.

But the Celtics limited that issue by having Jrue Holiday defend Towns. That allowed them to switch the Brunson-Towns pick-and-roll and keep a good defender in front of the player (Brunson) who generates good shots for the Knicks.

Towns was able to score vs. Holiday in the post early on and shoot over him late in the second quarter, but that matchup didn’t yield nearly as many good possessions as the Celtics got against Towns on the other end of the floor.

Boston also doubled Towns on occasion. They’re usually loathe to put two guys on the ball, but on Tuesday, the Knicks couldn’t take advantage.

Late in the first quarter, Towns posted Tatum, drawing a double team. Holiday then made a spectacular play, helping on a Cameron Payne drive, anticipating Payne’s next pass, deflecting it, and taking it the other way for a layup:

The Celtics of 2022-23 and ’23-24 are first team in the 47 years since the league started counting turnovers to have ranked in the top two on both ends of the floor in two straight seasons. And they could certainly do it a third straight time.

4. Knicks lose their rebounding advantage

The Knicks’ biggest strength over the last two years has been rebounding. Two seasons ago, they ranked second in both offensive rebounding percentage and total rebounding percentage. Last season, they led the league in both.

But none of the three guys that led the team in total offensive rebounds last season were available on Tuesday. Isaiah Hartenstein now plays with the Thunder, while Mitchell Robinson and Precious Achiuwa were both out with injuries.

Towns is seven feet tall, but as a perimeter-oriented big, has never been much of an offensive rebounder. In each of the last two seasons, he’s grabbed just 5.0% of available offensive boards. (For comparison, Robinson and Hartenstein grabbed 17.0% and 12.9%, respectively, last season.

As a team, the Knicks retained just 18.4% of available offensive rebounds on Tuesday, what would have been their second lowest rate last season (95 total games, including playoffs). The Celtics had the advantage (16-13) in second chance points.

Towns’ shooting will make the Knicks’ initial offense more potent, but they probably won’t be getting as many second chances as they have in the past.

5. Banner No. 18 is raised to the rafters

While Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla is a relentless competitor who seems entirely focused on shot quality, he appreciates his role ability to work for the most successful franchise in NBA history.

That was obviously a topic of conversation on Tuesday as the Celtics raised their 18th championship banner to the TD Garden ceiling and received their championship rings. There as guests for the ceremony were Celtics legends Bob Cousy (now 96 years old), Cedric Maxwell, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce.

“We’ve been entrusted with the tradition of this organization,” Mazzulla said beforehand. “And we have a responsibility of ownership, to the city and the people that came before us. This job isn’t what it is if the people before us didn’t put the time and the effort into making it what it was.”

Asked afterward about his new ring, Mazzulla quipped that it was too big and that he was never going to wear it.

“I was more fascinated by the banner,” he said. “I come in here every afternoon and take a look at those. They represent so much.”

After he got his ring, Tatum took the microphone, thanking the Garden crowd and the city of Boston for their support. And he finished with a simple message.

“Let’s do it again.”

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John Schuhmann is a senior stats analyst for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.

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