CNN
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It was a night of celebration for the Boston Celtics.

Before the opening game of the new 2024-2025 NBA season at home against the New York Knicks, the Celtics received their championship rings for winning the title last season and raised banner No. 18 into the rafters of TD Garden.

They then went on to defeat the Knicks 132-109 and led by as many as 35 points in the fourth quarter, led by a huge opening night performance from Jason Tatum.

The 26-year-old star finished with a game-high 37 points on absurdly efficient 14-for-18 shooting, including 8-for-11 from three-point range, with 10 assists, four rebounds, a steal and a block.

Derrick White had 24 points and Jaylen Brown, last season’s Finals MVP, added 23.

The Celtics tied the NBA record for 29 three-pointers in a game early in the fourth quarter, but – in a hilarious moment – ​​missed their last thirteen attempts, much to the crowd’s amusement.

“It was almost like we were cursed or something,” Brown told ESPN. “It was like when we were just playing, having fun, playing our style of basketball, everything went inward. And once the crowd got in and we started chasing them, we couldn’t even hit the wide side of the barn. .

“Everything was turned off. We got a lot of great looks and it was like a lid on the basket. So that shows that we are not a team that chases threes.

“We play the game and we do what we have to do, but I think it was difficult towards the end because we didn’t play the way we normally play. But we still had some great looks.

White joked that he blamed himself for the Celtics missing their last 13 attempts after asking what the record was during the game.

“I shouldn’t have said anything.”

New York’s new tandem of Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, acquired from the Minnesota Timberwolves in a major offseason trade for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo, failed to get into gear against the suffocating defense of Boston.

Towns scored just 12 points and played just 23 minutes in the loss.

Brunson had a team-high 22 points along with Miles McBride, who shot 80% off the bench in a rare highlight for the Knicks.

New York next hosts the Indiana Pacers, while Boston travels to the Washington Wizards.