Boston – under celtics Baskett, the team’s three longest-tenured players, enjoyed a moment during the team’s ring ceremony Tuesday night. As other coaches and players came out to collect their jewelry, jayson tatum, jaylen brown And al horford The final three stood next to each other in line to collect their prizes for winning the 2024 championship.
The emotions affected each player differently. Tatum couldn’t stop smiling. Horford’s goal was to enjoy the euphoric spectacle as much as possible. Brown said he needed to fight back tears. Most of the shock he felt was while celebrating Boston’s Finals victory in June. Four months later, when the Celtics raised their banner and received their rings, he could appreciate the full accomplishment. It wasn’t easy for him, Tatum or Horford.
“That ring is just an object, isn’t it?” Brown said. “But that’s all. The emotions, the heartbreak, the embarrassment, the work, the excitement, the dedication, as that ring represents, do you know what I mean? It’s all the feeling you get when you hold something, you know? So for me, that’s what was going on in my mind. And it was an amazing feeling.”
It may have been awkward for the players to focus their attention on the basketball game afterward, but they did it well enough to dominate New York 132-109. After celebrating the outcome of their game last season, the Celtics wanted to remember on opening night everything it took to win that championship. Joe Mazzulla said his goal was to “repeat the winning streak.”
On Tuesday, it included a performance similar to many of the team’s best performances last season, but with an even greater reliance on the 3-point shot. celtics tied one nba Set a record with 29 3-pointers despite failing to convert any of his last 13 attempts. Hot with fire and change throughout the first three quarters, they had 8:54 to give themselves sole possession of the league record.
Instead, the Celtics lagged behind in comical fashion, with fans chanting “one and three”. brown, Xavier Tillman And jordan walsh Shots thrown from the air that would have extended the record. The team missed all three 3-point attempts. They could have tried at least one more 3-pointer during the final minute, but intentionally dribbled out the shot clock. The crowd greeted that decision with jeers.
Later in the locker room, Peyton Pritchard told Sam Hauser The Celtics would have hit the needed 3-pointer if they had just played real basketball. Instead, Hauser said with a laugh, he ran for the first shot he could get.
It was not like this the whole night. New York is still in the process of figuring out how the new roster fits together. The Celtics know about themselves as much as any team can at the start of the regular season. And they played like that.
After hitting four-six shots from behind the arc in the first quarter, he made sure to continue feeding Tatum. Once nix The Celtics began playing him more than necessary, which created additional pressure on him. He consistently drew another defender, found an open teammate and watched his teammates move the ball around the perimeter for quality 3-point looks. In addition to Tatum’s 10 assists, he provided several hockey assists, taking advantage of any strategy the Knicks threw at him. His studies, like his outdoor shooting, were on mark. He was not surprised to see his team advance so early in the season.
Jayson Tatum scored 37 points on 14-of-18 shooting and connected on eight of his 11 3-point attempts. (David Butler II / Imagen Images)
“I think offensively, I feel like we’ve progressed from where we were last year,” Tatum said. “We brought almost everyone back. We played to our strengths. We know what we’re trying to do. We know who we’re trying to attack. We know which sets and activities to include and we work on it all the time. We work on reading every day in practice and that’s essentially all we do. Yes, we beat them and stuff, but we just read. We know where to be, we know when to cut, we know where to create space on the floor, we know when to make the extra pass. And obviously, we’ve got some extremely talented guys and oftentimes, we’ve got at least four guys on the court that can shoot 3s. We always try to make the right play and make the best shots.”
After questions about his jump shot throughout the offseason, Tatum (37 points on 14-of-18 shooting) silenced the doubters for at least one night by hitting eight of his 11 3-point attempts . In the first quarter alone, he finished with 15 points, five assists and three rebounds in what would represent a great game for most players. Hunting down his outside shot, he made a 3-point attempt on Carltown’s pick-and-roll coverage on the first Boston possession and drilled three more triples during the opening 12 minutes. He said his jump shot, which he modified in the offseason, felt good.
“Obviously, I’m proud of the way he shot the ball, but even more so how he dominated the game and all areas, and picked his spots really well,” Mazzulla said. , took the shots he wanted.” “But I mean, the guy works hard every day. He doesn’t let things get in the way of the most important things and it showed tonight, and I expect him to have a great season. “That doesn’t mean there won’t be ups and downs, but I’m happy for him that he got off to a great start.”
Josh Hart on the Celtics’ hot shooting:
“The NBA needs to drug test them all, I’ll tell you right now. I’ve never seen anything like it before” 😭 pic.twitter.com/urNChH3Rpu
– Knicks Video (@sny_knicks) 23 October 2024
For the regular season opener, the Celtics were remarkably sharp in their execution. He dished out 33 assists but committed only three turnovers. They outscored New York 11-5 on the offensive glass and made 31 more 3-point attempts than the Knicks. With that shot margin, the Celtics’ math was in their favor. They led 43–24 after the first quarter despite allowing New York to shoot 55 percent from the field during the period.
The Knicks should compete for the Eastern Conference crown, but the Celtics are kings for now. They left with just one complaint: Horford’s ring didn’t fit. When he was measuring himself for it shortly after dislocating his finger during the playoffs, he failed to take into account the reality that the swelling, which was persistent at the time, would eventually subside. It had probably been a long time since he made such a rookie mistake.
(Top photo of Jaylen Brown shooting against Jalen Brunson: David Butler II/Imagen)
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