BOSTON — The new Knicks were just guests at the Boston triumvirate.
New York, touted as the biggest threat to the Celtics in the East, was like a wet paper bag as the Celtics cruised to a ring-night victory, 132-109, and nearly broke the all-time record from beyond the arc. showed great resistance.
It was immediate chaos for the Knicks. The Knicks fielded an expensive, star-studded lineup and trailed by as many as 21 points in the first quarter.
Tom Thibodeau's team never recovered.
Instead, it fell apart, allowing the point difference to reach 35 points in the second half.
Still, the coach's postgame criticism was appreciated.
“I think we have to have an appropriate response to that,” Thibodeau said. “I'm disappointed we didn't play better. But I'm not disappointed in our team.”
The Celtics, who were honored before the game with their 18th title, tied an NBA record with 29 knockdowns from beyond the arc.
The matchup was extremely uncompetitive, with the Boston crowd chanting “three more” in the final minutes as the Celtics fell just short of their all-time record.
With their starters already taken out, the Celtics reserves were obliged to initiate a try on every possession, but surprisingly missed the last 13 tries.
Still, that didn't deny Boston's star players, who hit 26 3-pointers even though no player played more than 31 minutes.
“The NBA needs to drug test them,” Josh Hart said. “I've never seen anything like it.”
The Knicks' problems were widespread, but none were more glaring than in the first half with Mikal Bridges. Mikal Bridges changed his form before the season, threw bricks during the preseason and misfired early Tuesday as if he had the yips.
The Knicks even tried to restore Bridges' confidence by giving him a technical foul shot in the third quarter.
he missed.
Bridges, who was acquired for five first-round picks in the summer, finally broke the seal in the second half, scoring 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting.
If there was a positive to take away from Tuesday, it was probably Bridges getting off Schneid for the last time.
However, Bridges struggled against Jayson Tatum's defense, giving up 37 points in 30 minutes (including 8 of 11 from 3-point range).
With Bridges on the court, the Knicks were outscored by 33 points.
The Celtics, who received their championship rings before tipoff, looked at the rim with a clear, uncontested look on their faces.
It would have been hard to imagine a worse debut for the Leon Rose build. However, they blamed it mainly on the opposition's anomalous performance.
“They tied the NBA record in 3 seconds,” Hart said. “I mean, sometimes there are three or four games a year where teams just shoot the ball at an absurd clip, and there's not much you can do about it. We shot 58 percent. There were bad defensive breakdowns and lack of communication. You have to give them credit. Man, they had great energy and on ring night, they came out and we've only seen them once before. I hit the ball at a clip I don’t think I’ve ever hit before.”
Jalen Brunson (22 points, 9-of-14 shooting) and Miles McBride (22 points, 8-of-10 shooting) had individual strong offensive performances.
But Karl-Anthony Towns' debut (12 points, 7 rebounds) was underwhelming, and the Knicks looked like they weren't in the same league as the Celtics, much less a threat to dethrone them.
Boston won in every statistical category, and the Knicks, who replaced rim protection and rebounding with shooting and spacing in the offseason, grabbed just five offensive boards, up from their league-leading average of 12.7 last season. It was significantly lower.
TD Garden was fired up from tipoff, riding the emotional high of Ring Night to hoist the Celtics' 18th flag.
The Knicks chose not to watch the Celtics' coronation ceremony in their locker room. Even if it was a strategy to avoid distractions, it didn't work.
Thibodeau called his first timeout 2 1/2 minutes later, but things got worse from there.
Brunson didn't want to use the excuse that the Knicks were newly formed while Boston had been together for years.
“Yes, it's an easy solution, but it still hurt us,” Branson said.
It certainly was.
