The last words of the banner ceremony in Boston, spoken by a beaming Jayson Tatum, were: “Let’s do it again.”

Of course, that means winning another NBA championship, something no team has accomplished in consecutive seasons since 2018.

The Celtics are a long, long, long far from achieving this goal. But her bid for Banner 19 got off to an ideal start Tuesday night.

Joe Mazzulla's club bombed its way past a team that would be considered one of the Eastern Conference's top contenders, opening the new season with a 132-109 win over the New York Knicks at TD Garden.

They did it by playing a supercharged version of Mazzulla Ball, the math-based, 3-point approach that fueled one of the best offenses in NBA history last season. The 29 three-pointers the Celtics made in the lopsided win tied the NBA single-game record set by the Milwaukee Bucks in 2020-21

The 2023-24 Celtics averaged 42.5 3-point attempts per game, by far the most in the league. At halftime on Tuesday they were tied at 64, 64! They made more three-pointers (17) in the first half than the Knicks attempted (14). New York managed just four of them and Boston went into the locker room with a 74-55 lead.

The leader of that barrage was Tatum, who allayed any lingering concerns about his jump shot by hitting six of his first nine three-pointers as part of a 25-point opening half. All five Boston starters – including Al Horford, who started in place of the injured Kristaps Porzingis after sitting out most of the preseason – made multiple three-pointers in the first half. Everyone except Horford reached double figures before halftime.

The Knicks are capable of overcoming such a deficit with their talented starting lineup of Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby and blockbuster offseason pickups Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns. But the Celtics never backed down.

Jaylen Brown and Derrick White made three-pointers on Boston's first two possessions of the second half, both off assists from Tatum. Then Jrue Holiday buried a plate from Horford. Then Tatum. Then white again. Then Brown again. The Celtics extended their lead to 30 and surpassed the 100-point mark with 4:07 left in the third quarter.

Tatum finished opening night with a stat line for the ages: 37 points on 14 of 18 shooting, 8 of 11 from three, 10 assists, four rebounds, one steal, one block, one turnover in 30 minutes.

White, Boston's best 3-point shooter during last year's playoff run, was 6 of 10 from distance and scored 24 points. Brown (5 of 9 from deep) added 23 points and seven rebounds. Holiday (4-6) scored 18 points. Horford (3-5) had 12 points.

Leading 130-98 with six minutes left, Mazzulla eliminated its starters and deployed second-year pro Jordan Walsh alongside rotational reserves Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, Xavier Tillman and Luke Kornet. At this point, the only question that remained was whether the Celtics would become sole owners of the single-game 3-point crown.

A sudden cold spell thwarted this pursuit. After Horford tied the Bucks' record with 8:54 left, the Celtics missed their last 11 three-pointers – including three on a single possession – as the celebratory Garden crowd chanted “Three again!”

Pritchard opted to let the clock run out in the final seconds rather than make a final attempt.

This wasn't a defensive masterstroke from the defending champions, as the Knicks shot a respectable 55.1% from the floor and 36.7% from deep. But Boston was so incredibly effective on offense that Tom Thibodeau's new roster simply couldn't catch up.

Brunson fought through Brown's stingy defense to score 22 points on 9 of 14 shooting, with Miles McBride adding another 22 off the bench. Towns, one of the NBA's best perimeter shooters, attempted just two three-pointers in the game and finished with 11 points in his Knicks debut

The Celtics weren't just superior to the Knicks. They overtook them too. Boston caught six steals, all from different players. New York had two. The offensive rebounding advantage was similarly lopsided: Celtics 11, Knicks five. The Celtics turned the Knicks' nine turnovers into 19 points – including arena-shattering fast-break throws from Brown and Holiday – and turned the ball over just four times themselves, including Pritchard's intentional runoff.

Originally published: October 22, 2024 at 9:48 p.m