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The Celtics’ historic opening night should shock the rest of the NBA
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The Celtics’ historic opening night should shock the rest of the NBA

The Boston Celtics raised their 18th championship banner Tuesday evening to the rafters. They then spent 48 minutes reminding everyone why they should be considered prohibitive favorites to do it again.

Boston dominated the visiting New York Knicks, 132-109, behind a historic flurry of three-point shots. With 29 goals from beyond the arc, the Celtics tied the all-time NBA record for most three-point shots in a single game (and just one ridiculous cold streak at the bench in the last six minutes prevented them from setting the record outright). All five Celtics starters recorded at least three goals from deep. Despite shooting 55.1% from the floor, the Knicks had no hope of keeping up with that firepower.

The collective excellence was led by superstar Jayson Tatum, who had the best night out of anyone on the floor. He made eight threes en route to a night of 37 points and 10 assists with a game-high +26. It appears Tatum was determined to respond to a full complement of offseason questions about his jump shot overnight.

It was a statement night for the Celtics and the Knicks have a lot to consider after running off the floor. Here are the three biggest takeaways from the night.

The Celtics aren’t going to shoot 47.5% from three every night. Even their talented roster, which is packed with good to great shooters, isn’t able to make nearly half of their shots night in and night out. But last year, even on off nights, Boston kept shooting. The team’s shot selection against the Knicks showed that they might go even further, creating a major problem for anyone trying to take them down.

The Celtics shot 31 more three-pointers than the Knicks on Tuesday night. They shot 61 total, a dramatic increase from the 42.5 three-point attempts they averaged during last season’s title series. When Boston shoots nearly 40% from deep as a team for the second year in a row (they clocked in at 38.8% last season) and swings it from beyond the arc even faster than ever, it’s legitimate to wonder how opponents can keep up if necessary. Few other teams can field seven above-average three-point shooters on a nightly basis, and no team is more committed to launching from deep.

It is very difficult to win in the modern NBA if you cannot beat your opponent from beyond the arc. Between the sheer volume of attempts and the skill of the shooters putting up the shots, the Celtics’ game plan allows them to do that virtually every night. That’s a tough basketball problem, and an even tougher math problem, one for which there seems to be no solution.

Although criticism of Tatum became quite intense this summer, it was difficult to ignore the fact that his jumper had let him down. The All-NBA forward shot 28.3% from three in last season’s playoffs and failed to make a single jumper in the limited minutes he saw with Team USA at the Paris Olympics. He arrived at Celtics training camp with a polished jump shot that looked good in the preseason, but the world waited to see how he would shoot on opening night.

The result? Tatum was absolutely lights out going 8 of 11 from deep and making 11 jumpers in total. The Knicks were content to stick with Tom Thibodeau’s preferred drop coverage and Tatum made them pay time and time again with off-the-dribble pull-up shots. His 10 assists show that the superstar can impact the game in other ways, but when the jumper is working, Tatum is almost unstoppable.

The Celtics are so talented that they don’t need Tatum as a sharpshooter to win games. But his willingness to let it go Tuesday night suggests he’s more than ready to prove the offseason narrative wrong.

There’s no reason to sound the alarm in Manhattan about the Knicks’ opening night performance. It would have been a morale boost to keep it close, but they made significant roster moves in the offseason and their chemistry on both ends of the court pales in comparison to the Celtics returning a full championship rotation. New York has 81 games left to figure things out.

But Bridges’ performance could be a sign of concern for the Orange and Blue. Bridges arrived at Knicks training camp with a visibly altered jump shot, which gave fans cause for concern as he is a career 37.5% three-point shooter. As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke…

Still, Bridges tried to fix something and the results were troubling. He made just two of 19 three-point attempts in the preseason and started the new NBA season by missing every one of his five shots from the floor in the first half against the Celtics. New York moved heaven and earth to acquire him last summer, trading four unprotected first-round picks for the elite two-way wing. If he suddenly becomes an offensive liability and struggles to shoot, the Knicks are much less dangerous.

Bridges eventually found a rhythm in the second half, though, shooting 7-for-8 and making a pair of shots from deep. Maybe he’ll abandon his new jersey, or maybe he’ll just have to get used to it. No one should be in a hurry to label the trade as a catastrophe and Bridges as a negative player. But it’s something to keep an eye on, as Bridges’ ability to take some of the scoring and playmaking away from Brunson is crucial to the Knicks’ hopes of a deep playoff run.