Celtics 132, Knicks 109: 81 to go!
Any noise the Knicks hoped to make to start the year was drowned out by the Boston Celtics’ 3-point barrage
We’re fans of the New York Knicks. We know what it’s like to lose. So why does the first loss of the season always hurt so damn bad?
Revamped behind the arrivals of Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns, the Knicks walked into TD Garden to kick-off the 2024-25 season against the Boston Celtics. I think they crawled out. Or were dragged out. Or maybe they were never truly there.
Jayson Tatum led a 3-point barrage rivaled by only one other team in NBA history. Boston sank 29-of-61 threes to tie a record held by the 2020-2021 Milwaukee Bucks for most makes in regulation. And I don’t say “sank” lightly: each three the Celtics put up inched closer to the rafters before barreling through the net with all the weight of the 18 franchise championships behind them. New York’s defense personified the historic disparity between the teams. The Knicks have won two championships, the last predating VHS. It was Boston’s night, from start to finish.
Denial
But does it really mean anything? Are there any concrete conclusions to draw from a game featuring one team upholding the (wildly successful) status quo and another self-discovering in real time? Is the real Bridges the one who shot 0-for-7 in the first half or 7-for-8 in the second? What about the Knicks’ play on Tuesday was naturally born out of preparation and scheme? What of desperation? New York didn’t fall into Boston’s trap unknowingly. They signed waivers, scheduled it on a calendar, bragged about it on Facebook to their friends and family before showing up in custom made t-shirts, Kodak cameras in hand. This isn’t the team we’re going to watch all year, right?
Anger
Or perhaps it is. Maybe there was a flaw more glaring than Leon Rose’s insistence on reuniting the Villanova foursome threesome. Did he perform due diligence on Bridges before bartering a good chunk of the team’s future?
Was there no one in the room willing to raise their hand and ask about the potential liabilities of Towns’ paint protection? He got blocked by 52-year-old Al Horford!
How could they have parted with Donte DiVincenzo? New York could have used a little 3-point reinforcement! Did the journey they went on with Julius Randle mean nothing to them? He’s the reason we were in position to be so aggressive. Randle gave us his prime and we rewarded him by casting him out into the cold winds of Minnesota, like Jon Snow relegated to Castle Black.
Bargaining
I’ve commenced deep breathing exercises. Bridges did shoot 7-for-8 in the second half. He knows the shot adjustments won’t work. What he did in one summer can be undone by the playoffs, right? Towns is on a new team, more so than Bridges, especially after arriving just three weeks ago. Once he and Jalen Brunson are featured in more pick-and-rolls, this offense will truly begin its climb toward a 2015 Warriors tier of greatness. Thibs won’t let this shit slide. A matchup with the Indiana Pacers on Friday will be prefaced by a long week of practice and emphasis on fundamentals, the only ground sure enough to foot the foundation. This team responds when challenged. Friday’s matchup with the Pacers could mirror this one, but with the winning shoe on the feet of Knicks players. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither were these Celtics.
Depression
Maybe I’m reaching. Maybe the flaws in this roster aren’t exaggerated; maybe they’re not talked about enough. Bridges didn’t just shoot poorly in the first half; he let Tatum use his body as a sounding board for the swish of his eight 3-pointers.
Josh Hart didn’t look lost, not at first, but then he did, and now I’m questioning his role on this team all over again. Towns hasn’t ever truly been a “winning player.” He had a 271-302 record with the Timberwolves. And he hasn’t been challenged like this since he last played for Thibs in Minnesota, which – well you know how that went. Leon overpaid for Bridges, overpaid for Towns, and is going to let Thibs play Jericho Sims 20 minutes a night the rest of the season. How did we get so close just to risk it all in one summer?
Acceptance
New York lost their season opener. They’re 0-1. There are 81 games to go. Boston was almost always going to win this game. Against a team featuring two new starters, the Celtics only had to match up with the flaws of the roster on paper: going at Towns on both ends of the ball, making Bridges shoot, forcing the Knicks to their bench early and pulling on the loose strings of a defense that’s just been knit. Thibs and the Knicks weren’t prepared to counterstrike. Nothing’s established by the first game of the season. Won’t be for some time. There will be other losses. But there will also be wins. Brunson’s presence alone ensures that. This was only the seventh loss of OG Anunoby’s Knicks career. Is the sky really falling, or is this just the first time we stepped outside and looked at it during a storm?
The five stages of grief are meant to help us “learn to live with the one we lost.” I had a vision in my head of what New York would look like with Bridges and Towns in tow on Tuesday. That much has been lost. But the Knicks’ season has not. At 0-1, 81-1 is still possible. Just saying.
