The Boston Celtics accepted their 2024 championship rings on Tuesday night, and then showed why they’re the favorites to go for back-to-back titles this season.
The Celtics blasted the New York Knicks, 132-109, in the season opener. The Knicks are spent all offseason trying to construct a team to beat Boston, but the champs showed there’s still a huge gap between them and everyone else in the East.
The game was a rout almost immediately. Boston held a 21-point lead during the first quarter, and continued to bombard the Knicks with three-pointers at a historic rate all night.
When Al Horford connected on a three-pointer with just under nine minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Celtics had tied an NBA record with 29 made threes on the night. The fans at TD Garden in Boston were ready to erupt for the 30th make, but then a funny thing happened: the Celtics missed 13 straight threes to end the game.
When Boston ran the clock out late in the fourth quarter, Celtics fans booed loud and hard. Imagine that: raising a banner and dominating your rival in the season opener, and still hearing boos rain down in the arena!
Celtics reserve Sam Hauser might be the best pure shooter on the team. He contributed two of those 29 made threes. After a string of misses to end the game, Hauser laughed about the fans’ reaction.
“We got booed on ring night up 30,” Hauser said. “How about that?”
Celtics fans also spent a portion of their night chanting “Yankees suck,” but that was to be expected.
The Celtics took more than 64 percent of their field goal attempts from three. They are probably going to hit 30+ threes in a game at some point this summer. Head coach Joe Mazzulla is a mad man, but at this point he has to be considered one of the best head coaches in the league.
The Knicks need time, which maybe shouldn’t be a surprise. Boston set a high, high bar for them to try to measure up to.
