– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BOSTON — The painfully loyal yet tough-to-satisfy sports fanbase of Boston let its collective displeasure be heard at the end of the Celtics’ curtain-raiser for the 2024-2025 season, as a cacophony of boos rang about TD Garden as reserve guard Payton Pritchard dribbled out the game’s final seconds, capping off a stretch of nine missed shots to end the contest from the green and white.
Celtics supporters need not worry, however, given there were more than enough cheers to go around well before the game-ending brick fest, as every other aspect of one of the most special nights in franchise history went as smoothly as almost every basketball that swished through the nets in a record-setting display of basketball marking the beginning of a title defense that, shockingly enough, seems fait accompli after only the first 48 minutes of the new NBA season.
Soon after raising championship banner No. 18 to the rafters of TD Garden, this year’s iteration of the Boston Celtics took off their immaculately white jackets, trimmed in gold with “NBA CHAMPIONS” on the back and 18 Larry O’Brien trophies dotting the sleeves, and played a near-immaculate game as they took apart the New York Knicks 132-109 on Tuesday night, a coronation that quickly turned into the loudest of opening salvos in stating the team’s intentions to the rest of the league that any sign of a championship hangover might be nonexistent throughout the new campaign.
Bob Cousy, the 96-year-old legend who helped lead the iconic franchise to their its championship in 1958 as the first great point guard in league history, was present as part of the banner-raising ceremony. The first of the so-called “Big Three,” the trio of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, soon walked out onto the court, with Pierce carryingthe latest Larry O’Brien Trophy that the Celtics won four months ago in tow. And after each player and front office member walked onto the court individually to receive their championship rings, Jayson Tatum, the final player introduced to the crowd, addressed the fans while still overcome with emotion about seeing his legacy permanently etched onto a championship ring and, soon thereafter, raised to the rafters high above the famous parquet flooring.
“I can honestly say, you’re the best fans in the world,” Tatum said, “and let’s do it again.”
The Celtics did it again alright, and then some.
On the game’s first possession, Tatum swished home a three from the right wing. Boston would knock down 28 more threes for the game, with the 29 makes from beyond the arc tying the NBA record for most threes in a game. The record was reached when 38-year-old Al Horford, back for an 18th season in the NBA after playing the most playoff games in NBA history without winning an NBA title before putting that ignominious stat to rest, hit a three with almost nine minutes remaining that gave Boston a 33-point lead.
All this came against one of Boston’s longest, enduring rivals and the squad that swung for the fences in the offseason and made seismic moves to “Celtics-proof” its roster to try and become Boston’s biggest challenger in the East. Over the course of the season, the Knicks may very well evolve to become the Celtics’ biggest force of resistance on the way to a repeat, as one game does not make a season, obviously.
But, for this one night (and probably many, many more nights ahead), the Celtics’ baubles acted as Infinity Stones, and the team put on a Thanos-like dominating performance in eviscerating all that stood before them on the battlefield that made it surely seem that Boston is, indeed, inevitable.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Tuesday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Erica Denhoff. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 36 pictures in total.
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