BOSTON — As highlights played on the Jumbotron above them, Celtics teammates Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Al Horford — fixtures in this chapter of the team’s storied history — gathered at the midfielder, reliving their tenures at TD Garden, all of which culminated with Tuesday’s game. NBA Championship Ring Ceremony.
“I’ve been teammates with JB for seven years,” Tatum said. “I was 19 when I was drafted, and Al was in his 10th year; now he’s in his 18th year. The journey we’ve all been on together has brought us to this point, and it’s was cool sharing this moment with these two guys, soak it up, enjoy it and embrace it.
“It was just settling in,” Brown added. “Me, JT and Al were together, and I could feel he. When we won, I was in shock, but today all our emotions came together. It was like, “We did it.” We have done something spectacular. Regardless of what anyone has to say, my name – alongside those of my teammates – will live on in the history of the Celtics, who are one of the greatest franchises, not only in basketball but in sports. »
Before them were Celtics legends Bob Cousy, Cedric Maxwell, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen – other chapters of Celtics lore. Behind them was a league-record 18th championship banner, ready to be raised to the rafters. And once it did, Tatum grabbed a microphone to address the Garden crowd.
“To the best fans in the world,” he said, “let’s do it again.”
With that, the New York Knicks were supposed to play a basketball game against the newly bejeweled champions. If the intention was to ruin Boston’s night, the Knicks failed miserably. The Celtics took a 20-point lead in the first quarter and tied an NBA record, making 29 3-pointers en route to a 132-109 victory.
It was great basketball from Boston. They became the fourth team in NBA history to record at least 30 assists, 20 made 3s and five or fewer turnoverswhile recording shot splits of 51/48/88.
As for the Knicks, who have the second-best title odds in the Eastern Conference, newcomers Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges combined for 28 points on 22 shots, much of it after the outcome had been determined. They seemed lost at times, like they didn’t yet know how to complement Jalen Brunson.
“It’s the easy way out,” Brunson said of the apology, “but we still got our ass kicked.”
Bridges did little to allay concerns about his new look, missing his first five shots of the game. His first goal came from a corner in the opening minutes of the second half, with the Knicks trailing by 26.
“We don’t care about all the noise about Mikal and his shooting,” Knicks teammate Josh Hart said. “We don’t care about it. He works every day. He’s going to be good. The talk about it is stupid. There’s stupidity because ultimately it came down to a shot at 3 points at 40%.
On the bright side, Bridges has made seven of his last eight shots. The good part ends there. Time will tell if the Knicks can close the gap on Boston. And it’s a good thing that they have time; there is a long way to go.
New York’s defense acted like they didn’t know the Celtics led the league in 3-point attempts last season. They didn’t even need to chase them; every look was good. The biggest benefactor was Tatum, who kept pace on the pick-and-roll, hitting 14 of 18 shots (8 of 11 from 3) for 37 points.
So much for the concern about Tatum’s wayward shooting stroke. He asserted his MVP status in the first game.
“The shot went well,” Tatum said. “Offensively, I felt like things picked up where we left off last season. We brought back almost everyone. We played to our strengths. We know what we’re trying to do. We We know where we’re trying to attack. We know what sets and what actions to put in. We work on it all the time.
Brown and Derrick White added 23 and 24 points, respectively. Horford, Jrue Holiday and Sam Hauser reached double figures. Yes, it looked like the defending champions picked up where they left off. They moved the ball, spaced the field and executed at a level their main competitors couldn’t match.
“Three or four games a year where a team shoots the ball at an absurd clip,” Hart added. “Give them credit: incredible energy, on ring night, they came out and shot the ball in a way we’ve only seen once before.”
The rest of the league needs to maintain that this is an anomaly. Because to think the Celtics are actually that good this early — to think they could replicate that throughout the season — is to accept an inevitable repeat.
For Boston, however, on Tuesday it felt as if something had been passed down from dynasties past. There’s something different about this team now that they’ve won. They know who they are: champions.
“Having the legendary Celtics in the building – Bob Cousy, KG, Paul, Cedric Maxwell, all the guys who won – it’s almost like they’re passing the torch,” Brown said. “I was fighting them at the beginning of the game. It was amazing. That’s what we set out to do. My first year, when I got drafted, here’s what I said I would do: I I’d go to war for this city and it’s great to see this banner go up.
The work to add another side began again with a loss to their Atlantic Division rival. Given a second chance to reconsider his pregame speech, Tatum instead doubled down. “I know we’re not supposed to talk about repeating, but the fans were so excited I said, ‘F*** it, let’s do it again.'”
