Boston Three Party: The Celtics Keep Making History One Night at a Time
Coming fresh out of the off-season, on opening night the Boston Celtics raised their 18th championship banner and gave out championship rings to their players. Despite celebrating past achievements pregame, the Celtics were still very much in the present against the Knicks. In front of their home crowd opening up the NBA season, the Celtics dismantled the New York Knicks defense and won by a score of 132-109, marking a margin of victory of 23 points. This was quite the statement win, as Boston was able to take down one of their biggest threats in the Eastern Conference, while also making history.
In the Celtics 132 point effort Tuesday night, the team tied an NBA record for most three pointers made in a contest at 29. This tied only the 2020 Milwaukee Bucks who also knocked down the same amount. Led by star player Jayson Tatum who shot eight of eleven from deep, the team knocked down 29 threes out of 61 attempts totalling 48 percent. Tatum’s dominance was not only seen behind the arc, as he tallied 25 first half points en route to a total of 37 while shooting 14 of 18 from the field. With that being said, Tatum was not the only Celtic to get in on the action from long range as each of the Celtics other four starters: Al Horford, Jrue Holiday, Jaylen Brown, and Derrick White all made at least three three pointers shooting at 55 percent or better from deep. All the while, the team only turned the ball over three times while recording 33 assists in the full 48 minutes of play. This great performance on opening night marks another occasion on which the Boston Celtics have made NBA history and seems to be only foreshadowing what is to come next.
In their championship season last year, the Boston Celtics posted the highest offensive rating as a team in NBA history, with a rating of 127.1. Even without Kristaps Porziņģis who is recovering from offseason surgery in their season opener, the team showed that they have not missed a beat since their championship victory over the summer. Although the New York Knicks have not had a lot of time to build chemistry since trading for Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns in the offseason, they are still projected to be one of the Celtics biggest threats in the Eastern Conference. While it is still early in the season, this victory marked dominance for the Celtics in every aspect of the game. Recording more rebounds, offensive rebounds, less turnovers, more steals, and much more assists than the Knicks, Joe Mazzulla and the Boston Celtics have shown that they are not satisfied with one title, but look to have banner 19 for the franchise dead in their sights.
