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BOSTON — As highlights played on the Jumbotron above them, Celtics teammates Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Al Horford — staples of this chapter in the team’s storied history — gathered at mid-court, reliving their tenures in TD Garden, which all culminated in Tuesday’s NBA championship ring ceremony.
“I’ve been teammates with JB for seven years,” said Tatum. “I was 19 when I got drafted, and Al was in his 10th year; now he’s in his 18th year. The journey we’ve all been on together brought us to this point, and it was cool to share that moment with those two guys, soak it in, enjoy it and embrace it. That was dope.”
“It was just settling in,” added Brown. “Me, JT and Al were together, and I could feel it. When we won, I was in shock, but today all our emotions settled in. It was like, ‘We did it.’ We did something spectacular. Regardless of what everybody has to say, my name — alongside of my teammates — is going to be etched down in Celtics history, which is one of the biggest franchises not just in basketball but in sports.”
In front of them were Celtics legends Bob Cousy, Cedric Maxwell, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen — more chapters in Celtics lore. Behind them was a league-record 18th championship banner, ready to be raised to the rafters. And once it was, Tatum grabbed a microphone to address the Garden crowd.
“To the best fans in the world,” he said, “let’s do it again.”
With that the New York Knicks were supposed to play a basketball game against the newly bejeweled champions. If the intention was to spoil Boston’s evening, the Knicks failed miserably. The Celtics took a 20-point, first-quarter lead and tied an NBA record, making 29 3-pointers en route to a 132-109 victory.
It was beautiful basketball on Boston’s behalf. They became the fourth team in NBA history to log at least 30 assists, 20 made 3s and five or fewer turnovers, all while registering 51/48/88 shooting splits.
As for the Knicks, who own the Eastern Conference’s second-best title odds, newcomers Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges combined for 28 points on 22 shots, much of which came after the outcome was determined. They looked lost at times, as if they did not yet know how to complement Jalen Brunson.
“That’s the easy way out,” Brunson said of excuses, “but we still got our ass kicked.”
Bridges did little to assuage concerns about his new-look jumper, missing his first five shots of the game. His first make came from the corner in the second half’s opening minutes, when the Knicks trailed by 26.
“We don’t care about all the background noise about Mikal and his shot,” said Knicks teammate Josh Hart. “We don’t care about it. He puts the work in every day. He’s gonna be good. The talk around it is stupid. There’s stupidity to it because at the end of the day he’s been around a 40% 3-point shooter.”
On the bright side, Bridges made seven of his final eight shots. The bright side ended there. Time will tell if the Knicks can close the gap on Boston. And it is a good thing they have time; there is a long way to go.
New York’s defense acted as if it was not aware the Celtics led the league in 3-point attempts last season. They did not even need to hunt them; every look was a good one. The biggest benefactor was Tatum, who walked into rhythm on the pick-and-roll, drilling 14 of his 18 shots (8-of-11 from 3) for 37 points.
So much for the concern about Tatum’s wayward shooting stroke. He made his MVP case in Game 1.
“The shot felt good,” said Tatum. “Offensively, I felt like things picked up where we left off last season. We brought almost everybody back. We played to our strengths. We know what we’re trying to do. We know where we’re trying to attack. We know what sets and actions to get in. We work on it all the time.”
Brown and Derrick White added 23 and 24 points, respectively. Horford, Jrue Holiday and Sam Hauser reached double figures. Yes, it very much looked like the reigning champs picked up where they left off. They moved the ball, spaced the floor and executed at a level their chief competitors could not reach.
“Three or four games a year where a team just shoots the ball at an absurd clip,” added Hart. “Give them credit — amazing energy, ring night, they came out and shot the ball a way we’ve only seen once before.”
The rest of the league must maintain this was an anomaly. For to think the Celtics are actually this good this early — to think they might replicate this throughout the season — is to accept an inevitable repeat.
For Boston, though, Tuesday felt as if something had been handed down from dynasties past. There is something different about this team now that they have won. They know who they are — champions.
“Having the legendary Celtics in the building — Bob Cousy, KG, Paul, Cedric Maxwell, all of the guys who have won — it’s almost like they were passing the torch,” said Brown. “I was fighting them back at the start of the game. It was amazing. This is what we set out to do. My rookie year, when I got drafted, this is what I said I would do: I would go to war for this city. And it’s great to watch that banner get raised.”
The work to put another one alongside it began anew with a beatdown of their Atlantic Division rival. Given a second chance to reconsider his pregame speech, Tatum instead doubled down. “I know we’re not supposed to talk about repeating, but the fans were just so excited, I said, ‘F*** it, let’s do it again.'”