Celtics beat Knicks at the Garden in Season Opener

Celtics 108 Knicks 104

The Celtics got off to a hot start in NYC behind a combined 25 points from Kristaps Porzingis and Jayson Tatum. Meanwhile the Knicks fell behind early as they struggled to get shots to fall early. RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley managed to keep them in the game in the first half scoring 26 of their 36 first half points. In the second half the Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson were able to get going a little bit more and managed to eventually take the lead early in the 4th quarter. The Celtics eventually were able to take the lead back in part thanks to some big 3s and free throw by Porzingis and, depite some bad turnovers in the last 2 minutes, were able to hjold off the Knicks and get the win.

Jayson Tatum Double-Double in Win

Tatum had a great start to the season scoring 34 points with 11 rebounds and 2 steals. He was making some great plays throught the game and at times, was scoring at will. First impression is he is in store for another all star season, but I would like to see him take over a bit more in crunch time. He had 6 points in the 4th but only took 3 shots and made 1 of them in 12 minutes. That being said, if Porzingis is going to play like he did tonight, he may not need to.

Kristaps Porzingis Celtics Debut

Porzingis' first game in a Celtics uniform was definitely a good one, finishing with 30 points 8 rebounds and 4 blocks while shooting 5-9 from 3. Porzingis started with a 15 point quarter and really reminded everyone why they called him the unicorn when he was drafted. I really like this fit with the rest of this Celtics team, and with Tatum especially. Porzingis is really able to stretch the floor with his threat as a 3 point shooter (multiple 3s were 2-3 feet behind the line), while also providing some rim protection and rebounding on the defensive end. Its early, but assuming he can stay healthy, most teams are going to struggle to guard all of Porzingis, Tatum and Brown on a nightly basis.

Knicks Shooting Struggles

The Knicks struggled greatly from the field in the first half. RJ Barret was the only one of the Knicks main 3 to have a consistent showing early (finished with 24 points). Brunson and Randle were a combined 3-20 at halftime and finished 11-43 with 29 points. Quickley was able to help out with 7-11 and 24 points off the bench, but when two players taking half the shots are only shooting 25% from the field its tough to overcome that to get a win.