BOSTON — The Celtics and the Knicks took the court for the opening game of the NBA season Tuesday night, a clash that New York point guard Jalen Brunson said earlier in the day was a fair barometer — despite being the first game — for where the new-look Knicks stand against the defending champions.
But instead of a tense affair, the only drama at TD Garden was watching Boston spend the final minutes of its 132-109 victory trying — and ultimately failing — to break the NBA record for 3-pointers made in a game.
After Al Horford drained Boston’s third straight made 3 to start the fourth quarter with 8:54 remaining — pushing the team into a tie with the 2020-21 Milwaukee Bucks for the league mark at 29 3s in a game — the Celtics then went on to miss 13 consecutive attempts to eclipse the record, including three air balls and several other ugly misses.
Despite the crowd chanting “One more 3” on several occasions, it wasn’t enough for Boston to get over the line. It was the only thing that went wrong for the Celtics on an evening when they absolutely dominated the Knicks, who were playing their first game with offseason acquisitions Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns.
Boston quickly showed it was going to have a big night when it came out and went 10-for-16 from 3-point range in the first quarter before matching the franchise record of 17 made treys while taking a 19-point halftime lead.
In addition to those 29 made 3-pointers in total, Boston shot 50% from the field for the game and finished with 33 assists as compared to just three turnovers.
Boston ultimately outscored New York by 54 points from behind the arc (the Knicks had 11 3-pointers) and nearly made more 3s than New York attempted in total (30) on the evening.