The 2024-25 NBA regular season tips off on Tuesday night, and the Boston Celtics will raise their league record 18th championship banner to the rafters at TD Garden ahead of their game against the New York Knicks.
Boston is a solid favorite on the NBA odds.
| Opening NBA Lines Subject to Change: Celtics -5.5 (total 224) Expert Prediction: Celtics 110, Knicks 104 |
New York Knicks +187
The Knicks haven’t made the Eastern Conference Finals since 2000. They felt they could get there last season after winning 50 games and earning the No. 2 seed in the East, then knocking off the 76ers in the first round. But injuries caught up to them, and they were beaten by Indiana in Game 7 of the East semifinals.
mark your calendars ✍️ pic.twitter.com/nDWTOEQrvE
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) August 15, 2024
No team made bigger splashes this off season than the Knicks in trading for Timberwolves All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns and very good Nets forward Mikal Bridges.
The Draft
New York sent five first-round draft picks to Brooklyn in exchange for Bridges, who averaged 19.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists last season while playing terrific defense. Towns, who has averaged 22.9 points and 10.8 rebounds while shooting 39.8% from 3-point range in his career, was part of a three-team deal with Charlotte that cost New York All-Star forward Julius Randle and starting guard Donte DiVincenzo. KAT rejoins Tom Thibodeau, one of his former coaches in Minnesota.
Tom Thibodeau
“You know, you’re never content,” Thibodeau said. “You always want to try to improve. And when opportunities present themselves, and you feel like it can improve the team, you want to try to take advantage of that.”
Jalen Brunson
The Knicks’ starting lineup is now truly loaded, led by superstar Brunson. He averaged 28.7 PG last season, fourth-best in single-season franchise history behind Bernard King (32.9 – 1984-85), Richie Guerin (29.5 – 1961-62), and Carmelo Anthony (28.7 – 2012-13). Brunson, Joel Embiid and Luka Dončić were the only players in the NBA to record 35+ points in five consecutive games.
Jalen finished fifth in the NBA MVP voting and also averaged 32.4 points in the playoffs for New York, while also becoming the fourth player in history and the first since Michael Jordan in the 1993 Finals to string together four-straight games of 40 or more points in the postseason.
Precious Achiuwa
New York will be without backup center Achiuwa for likely at least a month after he strained his left hamstring in Friday’s preseason finale against the Wizards. Achiuwa’s absence will likely open up playing time for Jericho Sims off the bench behind Towns. Another one of New York’s top options patrolling the pivot, Mitchell Robinson, has not fully recovered from his foot surgery in May. The 7-footer may not be ready until January.
^Boston Celtics -222
Last season, the Celtics won their 18th NBA championship in franchise history, breaking a tie with the Los Angeles Lakers (17) for the most titles in league history. It was Boston’s first title since the 2007-08 season. The Celtics went 16-3 for an .842 winning percentage in the 2024 NBA playoffs, the ninth-highest playoff winning percentage in a season. It was the second-highest playoff winning percentage in a season since the first round expanded to a best-of-seven format in 2002-03, behind the 2016–17 Warriors, who have the highest single-season playoff winning percentage ever (16-1, .941).
Banner 18 awaits 🏆☘️ pic.twitter.com/4UlWzV5PNs
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) October 17, 2024
The Record
The Celtics became the first team to have the best record in the regular season (64-18) and win the NBA Finals in the same season since 2016-17 (Warriors). Boston went 80-21 (.792) in the regular season and playoffs combined during the 2023-24 season. It was the second-best single-season record in franchise history, behind the 1985-86 Celtics (82-18, .820). Every player on the Celtics’ roster won an NBA championship for the first time except guard Jrue Holiday, who is now a two-time champion after winning his first NBA championship with the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2020-21 season.
The Celtics will return 15 players from that team, highlighted by four-time All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum and three-time All-Star and reigning NBA Finals MVP forward Jaylen Brown. Boston’s high-powered backcourt duo and 2024 NBA All-defensive second team guards Holiday and Derrick White will also return to the C’s this season. Holiday, Tatum, and White added more accolades to their already stacked resumes after winning the gold medal with Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics in August.
Jayson Tatum
Tatum became the sixth player in NBA history to win an NBA title while leading his team in points, rebounds and assists, joining Larry Bird, Tim Duncan, LeBron James, Tim Duncan, and Hakeem Olajuwon. Five-time All-Star and 17-year NBA veteran Al Horford will embark on his seventh season with the Celtics after becoming the 10th player in NBA history to amass 2,200 career points, 1,400 rebounds, and 600 assists in the playoffs.
Kristaps Porzingis
However, Porzingis is not healthy to open this year. He could return as soon as December, which would be on the early side of the projected 5- to 6-month recovery period after undergoing surgery to repair a torn retinaculum and dislocated posterior tibialis tendon in his left leg in June, shortly after Boston’s championship parade. He came back from a calf strain in the first round of the playoffs to play in three games in the NBA Finals, including Game 5 after suffering this rare tendon injury in Game 2.
Last Season
During the 2023-24 regular season, the Celtics had the most 50-point wins (three), 40-point wins (four), 30-point wins (10), and 25-point wins (17) in NBA history. Boston’s scoring margin of +10.72 was the sixth-best in NBA history (regular season and postseason combined). Boston scored the most points per possession (1.22) in NBA history. The Celtics were 41-1 when making more threes and grabbing more rebounds than their opponent.
^How to Watch Knicks at Celtics
When: Tuesday, 7:30 PM ET
Where: TD Garden
TV: TNT
Stream: TNT app
Knicks vs Celtics Last Season
The Celtics were 4-0 vs. the Knicks in 2023-24, but they were usually competitive. They opened last season against one another in New York and the Celtics prevailed 108-104 as former Knick Kristaps Porzingis made a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 1:29 left and scored 30 points in his Boston debut, and Jayson Tatum had 34 points and 11 rebounds. RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley each scored 24 points for the Knicks. They were both traded during last season to Toronto.
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