BOSTON — Jayson Tatum continued Boston’s Banner 18 celebration by scoring 37 points and making eight of the Celtics’ NBA record-tying 29 three-pointers on Tuesday (Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, PH time) as Boston ran away with a 132-109 victory over the New York Knicks on opening night.
Derrick White scored 24 points, Jaylen Brown added 23 and Tatum had 10 assists for the defending champions, who raised their NBA-most 18th championship banner to the rafters before the game. Boston led by as many as 35 points before missing its last 13 three-point attempts while trying to break the record.
Jalen Brunson scored 22 points for New York, and new addition Karl-Anthony Towns had just 12 points and seven rebounds.
With the Celtics leading by more than 20 points early in the third quarter, the TD Garden crowd’s attention strayed from the basketball game and it began chanting “Yankees Suck!”
The Celtics hit their 29th 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter, then fired up two long airballs and 13 misses in a row from beyond the arc as they went for the record set in 2020 by Milwaukee. The crowd chanted “One more 3!” in the final minutes, but on Boston’s last possession Payton Pritchard dribbled out the shot clock without making another attempt.
“It was almost like we got jinxed or something,” said Brown, who was 5 of 9 from 3-point range but tossed up an airball with a chance to break the record.
“When we were just playing, having fun, playing our style of basketball, everything was going in,” Brown said. “The crowd got into it, and we started hunting them, we couldn’t even hit the bright side of the barn.”
Tatum made 8 of 11 from long distance and White connected on six as the Celtics made 29 of their first 48 three-point attempts.
The Celtics made 10 of 17 3-pointers in the first quarter, when they opened a 19-point lead. They added seven 3s in the second quarter and nine in the third. Al Horford tied the record from the left side with about nine minutes left in the game and the Celtics leading by 33.
Then the defending champions couldn’t find the hoop.
Brown and Xavier Tillman each fired up an airball from beyond the arc, and the Celtics scored just three more times the rest of the way — all 2-pointers — with just one basket after the 6:37 mark. Neither team scored at all in the final 3:43.
Payton Pritchard was the master bricklayer, missing five from long range. Sam Hauser missed three, Tillman missed two, and Jordan Walsh missed one. Boston finished 29 of 61 from 3-point range.
“When we were tied, I was like ‘We’re one away from the record,’” White said. “I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s kind of like a no-hitter, huh? I blame myself.”
The Celtics visit Washington on Thursday (Friday, PH time) and the Knicks play their home opener against Indiana on Friday (Saturday in PH).
/ AP