After raising 18th NBA title banner, Celtics make more history against Knicks

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I saw a commercial last night with Michael Imperioli telling me to get ready for the NBA Cup. We are so back!

About Last Night

First impressions from last night’s NBA opener

If you tuned in last night to see if the Celtics are still good at basketball, they sure are. Following their ring and banner-raising ceremony, the defending champs obliterated the Knicks. Boston cruised to a 132-109 victory by tying the NBA’s single-game record for made 3s (29). Jayson Tatum dropped a smooth 37 points and 10 assists. I figured I’d talk to myself to discuss the night. Here’s a Q&A with me!

Was the ring ceremony cool? It was a ring ceremony. If you’re a Celtics fan, you loved it. If not, you were wondering why Wyc Grousbeck was so awkward in addressing the crowd. Maybe because he’s selling the team? The rings are fantastic pieces right out of The Da Vinci Code.

How scary do the Celtics look? Pretty terrifying! They made nearly as many 3s (29) as the Knicks attempted (30). Of course, New York didn’t go 29 of 30 from deep, which would’ve helped its case. The craziest part of Boston’s performance? The Celtics missed their final 13 3-point attempts over the game’s final 8:54 while chasing the record. Boston scored an easy 132 without scoring in the final four minutes.

Was it really that bad for the Knicks? Yes and no. They got shredded on defense, so trading 3s for 2s all night just dug them an impossible hole. Karl-Anthony Towns looked solid. Jalen Brunson played well. Deuce McBride was great off the bench. It won’t be that bad in the future, but they got smacked.

Then, we had the Lakers hosting the Timberwolves to kick off their respective seasons. The Lakers controlled the game for the most part on their way to a 110-103 victory. Anthony Davis was a monster with 36 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks. The other Lakers to open a season with 35 points and 15 rebounds? Hall of Famers Wilt Chamberlain (1969) and Elgin Baylor (six times). Don’t worry; I plan on talking to myself about this game too!

Did LeBron James and Bronny James make history? What was the highlight? They did! JJ Redick subbed them both in with four minutes left in the second quarter. This was the big highlight from their 2:41 on the court together.

Isn’t that just them checking into the game? It sure is! That’s about all that happened. We had an assist opportunity, but this was history regardless of the statlines. We can now move on!

How did Redick’s Lakers look? They looked quite good. There was an early emphasis on 3-point shooting, but the Lakers finished with “just” 30 attempts. Even if the results weren’t there, they appeared pretty organized and confident in executing the gameplan.

What was the highlight of the night? Watch Anthony Davis send this right back to Rudy Gobert. I wonder if AD believes he should have been Defensive Player of the Year over Gobert.

How did the Wolves look? Constipated … basketball-wise, that is. The offense had very little flow to it, Edwards didn’t do enough to create opportunities for everybody and Julius Randle did not play as well as his 16-9-4 line would tell you. Minnesota was clunky.

MVP Watch: It’s a dead heat between Anthony Davis and Jayson Tatum. There’s a slight edge to AD. We’ll check back in on this race in January.

The Last 24

What to hear, watch and know for Wednesday!

In the time it took you to scroll down to this section, the Celtics lit up the Knicks for five more 3-pointers. Need a pod to listen to? We got you. Need some news to catch up on? This is the section for you. Not sure what to watch tonight? Let me be your TV Guide (it’s not a great slate, so pay attention)!

🎧 The Athletic NBA Daily. Perfect recap of the Celtics’ and Lakers’ wins last night, with a look ahead to tonight’s games. Push ▶️ here.

🏀 A-Rod and Marc Lore preparing to take over the Wolves. Maybe this is why the team made a money move instead of a basketball move with the Towns trade? Peep the latest here.

💰 Rudy Gobert and Minnesota agreed to an extension. The Wolves carve out more financial flexibility with Gobert declining his $46 million option next season and starting a three-year, $110 million extension next October. Jonny K. has the details. 

🏀 Don’t expect to watch Joel Embiid tonight or Paul George this week. I hope you’re prepared for Tyrese Maxey and a lot of Andre Drummond! More about the Sixers’ absences.

📺 Don’t miss this game tonight. Bucks at 76ers are on ESPN at 7:30 p.m. ET. You can see Tyrese Maxey try to go for 50.

📺 League Pass Game of the Night. Magic at Heat. This is by far the best game of the night, and it could end up deciding the Southeast Division! 7:30 p.m. ET.

Five Big ⭐s

Five important seasons for these big-name stars

With tonight providing our first full slate of games, there are a ton of storylines to emphasize or even put on the backburner for later in the season. We also have some very important seasons for individual players. These are five stars I’ve tagged for very important seasons in proving themselves further.

Zion Williamson, New Orleans: Last season, we saw the start of what we hope is the the 24-year-old Williamson of the present and future. Halfway through it, he turned a corner and started playing great on both ends of the floor. He was demolishing the Lakers in the Play-In matchup before a hamstring ended his season. Williamson came into camp in the best shape of his career – maybe his life. He unlocked his dominance last season. And the Pelicans need him to move further toward his immense potential in his sixth season in order to make a deep run in the West.

Joel Embiid, Philadelphia: The 2023 MVP is already missing time to start the season, and we’ve been told he may never play back-to-back games ever again. Honestly, that’s all fine. Embiid’s regular-season dominance has been seen and awarded before. What we need to see from him is a dominant playoff run, which we’ve never gotten. The Sixers revamped the roster to give him his best chance since Kawhi Leonard played PLINKO with the rim to send Philly home in 2019. Embiid (30 years old) has to deliver in the postseason. No more excuses.

Trae Young, Atlanta: Since the Hawks made the Eastern Conference finals in 2021, the 26-year-old Young has averaged an impressive 26.9 points, 10.2 assists and 3.2 rebounds on 44.2/36.5/88.4 shooting splits. A 58.5 percent true shooting over 203 games on such volume is really good. Young is unbelievably skilled. His team is also 120-136 (.469 win percentage) with two first-round exits and a missed postseason altogether. Co-stars have been swapped out. Coaches have been switched. At this point, things must go beyond cool stats.

Anthony Edwards, Minnesota: Wait a second. Didn’t Ant have a phenomenal year at 22 and start becoming a superstar? Why would he be included here? After the Towns trade, the Wolves are in a more precarious situation than we expected. The fit on this team is a lot weirder and will take time to adjust. That means Ant has to be even better, coming off that Olympic experience. The 23-year old really has no limit to what he can become, but the Wolves rarely find their way to back-to-back great seasons. It’s on him to make that happen.

Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland: We no longer have the contract extension hanging over this situation. The next step with new coach Kenny Atkinson is to make this team relevant in the playoffs. That may be more realistic if the Cavaliers trade Darius Garland or Jarrett Allen to balance out the roster. Maybe they need to see 23-year-old Evan Mobley’s ascension first. But Mitchell, who has the seventh-highest postseason scoring average ever (28.1, right behind LeBron) has to be a superstar in the postseason all the time.

(Top photo: Brian Fluharty / Getty Images )