5 hours Ago By Andrew Peters
The Boston Celtics title defense began on Tuesday as they took on the New York Knicks in their season opener, and star Jayson Tatum is hungry for another championship. Ahead of the game during the ring ceremony and raising of the championship banner, Tatum got fans hyped when he said "Let's do it again," regarding another Finals win. After the game, he admitted that he and the team hadn't been discussing a repeat, but he couldn't help it in the moment.
"I know we not supposed to talk about repeating, but the fans got so excited," he said, per The Athletic's Jared Weiss . "So I was like f--k it, let's do it again." There are still 81 games left to be played this season, but it's impossible to deny the Celtics looked ready to repeat on Tuesday with a 132-109 walloping of the Knicks.
Boston made 29 three-pointers, tying the Milwaukee Bucks' record for the most in a single game. Tatum led the way for the Celtics with 37 points and 10 assists despite checking out of the game early in the fourth quarter. His co-star Jaylen Brown added 23 and Derrick White had 24.
It's also worth mentioning Boston picked up the dominant win even without Kristaps Porziņģis, who will likely be out until late November as he recovers from an injury. The new-look Knicks who added Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges over the offseason could very well be the Celtics' biggest hurdle in the East, but they brushed them off with ease on Tuesday, setting the tone for what appears to be another dominant season. Should the Celtics win two in a row, they'd be the first team to do so since the great Golden State Warriors teams that won in 2017 and 2018.
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