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2024-25 Game Thread – Knicks @ Celtics – OPENING NIGHT, PEOPLE

Following a tremendously interesting offseason, one in which the Knicks exploited so many loopholes that the CBA looked like Swiss cheese when the Knicks were done with it, the Knicks now have one of the most star-studded starting lineups in the NBA, with two former All-Stars and two “Come on, you know these dudes are basically All Stars” in their starting lineup. The Celtics, of course, have four former All-Stars in their starting lineup, and they, you know, just won the NBA title last season, so tonight’s game provides the new-look Knicks with an excellent opportunity to show the Celtics that the path to the Eastern Conference championship will have to go through Manhattan.

Part of that involves the fact that the Knicks’ stars are all under 30, while most of the Celtics lineup is 76 years old (or something like that).

Josh Hart is officially part of the Knicks starting lineup tonight, so it’ll be interesting to see Mikal Bridges playing as the shooting guard for the Knicks tonight.

Let’s go, Knicks! The time is great to win 58!

342 replies on “2024-25 Game Thread – Knicks @ Celtics – OPENING NIGHT, PEOPLE”

Win it for me on my birthday! Let’s go Knicks! I’m making my friends in Nashville watch this game damn it!

Adding “Knicks fuck Celtics up tonight” to my prediction. Doesn’t really jive with “long time to gel” but whatever. LET’S FUCKING GO!!!!!

I hope Thibs made the boys watch that banner raise and imagine it being them in the Garden next year at this time. 👊🏻

No Clyde & Mike is baaaad! ☹️
Luckily I can skip Reggie thanks to the italian broadcast…
Fuck Reggie Miller 🖕🏻

Well this is a Nobody plays defense in Game 1 kind of game so far…

Towns losing the opening tip bc he didn’t feel like jumping wasn’t the most auspicious start to his Knicks’ career.

Haven’t missed a shot and we’re… checks notes down by 3?!

Fuckin’ Celtics!

Towns not running back on defense there, either. Way to make a first impression.

He doesn’t know it yet but Knicks fans are gonna hold him accountable for that crap when he does it in the garden.

So they’re putting Holiday on KAT to negate the 3 pointer. You gotta be able to punish that mismatch tho

Sims versus Kornet at center. Who would have thought it. That’s not necessarily in Boston’s favor

Communication on D is seriously lacking tonight

No, just D is seriously lacking tonight. The Celts get any shot they want offensively. This has to stop!

Not loving Mikal’s new shot…

I would be patient with a change if it looked improved form wise, but it looks terrible!

OG took a few shots in preseason and one tonight where he looked herky-jerky too. WTF is with these guys?

for a minute I was excited because I thought we put in Dadiet but it’s just Jericho

I thought exactly the same 😉

So they’re putting Holiday on KAT to negate the 3 pointer. You gotta be able to punish that mismatch tho

Holiday is frequently put on Cs. He’s not a mismatch there.

for a minute I was excited because I thought we put in Dadiet but it’s just Jericho

Jericho’s new hairdo really throws me off

Let’s get this season rolling!

I don’t like Thibs’s rotations so far. I think it may be time for a change! 🤣

Deuce and Brunson are the only guys who can shoot in this lineup, because Mikal is broken and Hart just refuses (probably rightly so).

Let us hope they do some gelling during this game, since they are about as gelled as an uncooked box of Jello.

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Tatum changed his shot this offseason eliminating a hitch. Seems more effective than Mikal’s.

Someone needs to tell Bridges to stop with this fucking bullshit and go back to how he used to shoot or else he’s gonna be the most booed player at MSG in Knicks history.

Jericho Sims is a G leaguer, he’s very athelthic and tall and does nothing useful on a basketball court.

Generally not a good idea to let the other team shoot 50% from 3PT and to also shoot 0% from 3PT

Deuce and Brunson are the only guys who can shoot in this lineup, because Mikal is broken and Hart just refuses (probably rightly so).

Hart leads in shot attempts!!!

Towns was benched for Sims after 5 minutes so drink if you had “Thibs panics before knickerblogger”’on your bingo card.

The start Deuce and Bench Hart talk on Knicks Twitter doesn’t look that bad

Somebody smack Bridges in the head and tell him “if it’s not broke don’t fix it”.

Towns was benched for Sims after 5 minutes so drink if you had “Thibs panics before knickerblogger”’on your bingo card.

He pretty obviously wants to have one of KAT or Brunson on the floor at all times, but you do you.

Doesn’t look like we’ll be able to start Hart with this current iteration of Bridges.

Celtics 10-16 from three (plus a halfcourt Hail Mary), Knicks 1-7.

I’m not worried 😃

Good thing for the Knicks their next 4 games are all on same nights as the World Series.

That’s enough of this game, I’m going back to the politics thread to start a kerfuffle

Weird to say after they nearly put up a 50 burger, but I actually didn’t see anything too alarming defensively. They hit a lot of tough shots.

Our offense doesn’t exist yet though and our key acquisition might’ve Knoblauched himself.

I worry that the Celtics will realize they only need to guard Deuce on the perimeter when Jalen is on the bench.

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We allowed them to put up uncontested 3s at the beginning. One simple screen and they are free to shoot. Awful! Now they got into a rhythm and they can make even contested shots.

Welp, turns out we weren’t pessimistic enough!

Celtics are hitting threes but even for great teams getting good quality threes every possession isn’t a birthright. This defense looks bad. Mikal looks bad. Towns looks bad. Sure hope that was an extreme outlier of a quarter.

when you compete like this against the number 1 team in league, it will make people completely un interested in the rest of the season

Bridges with the worst offseason overhaul of a jumper since Markelle Fultz?

Good, and very scary, comp…

Season is over in the first half of game 1 I guess, judging from the reactions

The majority of their shots are uncontested. This is the really alarming part. They are shredding our “defense”.

is this kevin harlan’s final season? i think it should be

Unless NBC or Amazon hire him..

You guys know one team has new players and need to gel and the other are the NBA Champions with almost no changes on their roster, right?

Dadiet has to be nervous on his first shot in an actual shot in an NBA game.

just so people know Thibs is known for giving up a lot of uncontested threes. It’s in his scheme.

You guys know one team has new players and need to gel and the other are the NBA Champions with almost no changes on their roster, right?

Which one’s which? I can’t tell.

You guys know one team has new players and need to gel and the other are the NBA Champions with almost no changes on their roster, right?

But that’s my emotional support doomerism…

You guys know one team has new players and need to gel and the other are the NBA Champions with almost no changes on their roster, right?

They can’t compete better , look like they are actually trying?

They can’t compete better , look like they are actually trying?

Oh shit the body language doc has logged on

Thibs can’t coach a team that lacks rim protection so it might be time to give him the boot

They need to play some defense and play with some pride and get this back to within ten.

I worry that the Celtics will realize they only need to guard Deuce on the perimeter when Jalen is on the bench.

I didn’t need to worry! Thanks, Joe!

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Surely some of Bridges’ shots will go in just by accident

I take it you’re not watching the game, because they really couldn’t

The Celtics went 64-18 in the regular season and 16-3 in the playoffs.
They bring back their first 11 scorers from last year (probably an all time record), It’s not like we’re losing against the Detroit Pistons.

Relax… except for Bridges’ totally broken shot 😀

I’m no longer rooting for the Knicks in this game. Just rooting for Deuce.

No there is literally no room for optimism. Leon and Thibs need to be canned immediately.

The Celtics went 64-18 in the regular season and 16-3 in the playoffs.
They bring back their first 11 scorers from last year (probably an all time record), It’s not like we’re losing against the Detroit Pistons.

Playing defense is about effort

It may be time for me to change the channel to watch the Halloween Bake-off. That should be more competitive.

And I guess, yeah as noted Thibs is gonna make sure one of JB or KAT is always on the floor, which thus pretty much kneecaps the entire JB/KAT death screen/roll idea.

We should 90s Knicks these guys everytime they go for a shot, except behind the arc instead of the paint

Mikal Bridges is supposed to be a high IQ player, but changing your shot to a shot that results in a 0% shooting percentage doesn’t seem like a very high IQ basketball kind of thing

It’s hard to keep up when the other team doesn’t miss every 3P they launch. Let’s hope that they cool down.

“but changing your shot to a shot that results in a 0% shooting percentage”

To be fair, so far this year he’s shooting 8.7%.

(Had to correct my math down)

Bridges > Randle

That was something many on here believed. We shall see over the course of the season.

Optimistic we can make this a game if 1) the Celtics stop hitting every 3 and 2) Mikal Bridges googles “how to shoot a basketball” at halftime

I don’t think there’s much to worry about. Might just have to take the L tonight but Boston literally cannot miss.

Watching Mikal is miserable at the moment however.

We have some incredibly soft posters here. We need more rough riders in these comments.

I don’t think starting 1 over the other is the wrong answer. Flaherty got rocked after the Mets saw him a second time, but he was great in Game 1.

19’s not a lot, especially for the way they shot. I think we’ll make this a game in the 2nd half.

First I have to go to a different bar, though.

First serious post.

IMO Towns has to lose some weight. He does not look in top shape. He looks slow and lazy on defense. If this is Towns we are going to have, we better keep Mitch, but IMO there’s a better version of him 10-15 pounds lighter.

Bridges has to throw that new shot in the garbage and get back to basics.

We have to play together more and things will get better.

It’s going to take 10-20 games. That’s why my prediction was on the low side. We are going to start off slow.

Other than that, no one can shoot 3s like this consistently.

This is like that Bucks game last year when they hit all their shots. The Knicks kept it somewhat close. You are not beating any team that shoots this much from 3, and hits so many of them. It is what it is.

are you a food channel fan strat?

that’s always on at ma’s house…I’ve seen sooooooo many episodes of best bobby flay, so many…and yes, he most certainly can cook just about anything…

None of this is Karl-Anthony Towns. The biggest danger is that the new Mikal, OG, and Josh Hart bring nowhere near enough offensive pop at the 2/3/4 positions.

It’s still early, so I’m gonna wait a bit more — but it’s absolutely a worry right now.

are you a food channel fan strat?

Yes. I can’t cook much at all, but I still enjoy a lot of the food shows.

Josh should be benched for Mcbride. It’s the quickest move the Knicks could make. Mcbride provides more offense

Great half for Deuce, decent for KAT and JB (but he had 2 bad turnovers), the real issue are Ghost OG (1-3) and Broken Bridges (0-5),

And it’s not that they’re exactly handcuffing Tatum and Brown…

The Celtics start 5 guys who are all excellent defenders. They’re gonna make a lot of offenses struggle.

We’ll be fine, only worry is Mikal Knoblauch.

I’ve watched 3 minutes of hockey today (the only hockey I’ve watched this year) and the Rangers have scored 3 times, maybe we should switch to Rangerblogger

We have them right where we want them! 🤣 This might actually be a good thing long term tho. Getting their asses kicked here in the opener will be a wake up call that tones down the hype and gets them focused. Let’s hope.

They out rebounded us 23 to 15. That is not good.

That’s why I kept saying Josh Hart has to be in the starting lineup. I love OG, but he’s not nearly the rebounder Randle is. We have to make up those boards somehow. It has to be Hart, but if he’s not rebounding above average, we have a problem on the boards. The other alternative is going big when we are healthy, but that defeats the purpose of having Towns as C because the spacing closes back up. It has to be Hart or a new PF that can shoot and move OG back to SF.

Why don’t people like Hart? He’s the 8th highest scorer in the NBA thus far

Also Sims is a waste of a roster spot. I would rather have sent him packing and kept Bates Diop.

Except Hart only got one rebound so far. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s just noise.

We’re currently beating last year’s best team fg% by .072. Our offense is fine guys.

We’re currently beating last year’s best team fg% by .072. Our offense is fine guys.

Offense is fine, defense is … Sorry, what defense?

Offense is fine, defense is … Sorry, what defense?

The usual suspects are complaining about the offense

Bridges might already be my least favorite Knick ever and that’s saying something.

Who the fuck is his shooting coach?

DSJr’s form after his shot got “fixed” was freaking gorgeous compared to Bridges’ shot

The only thing that can save us at this point is a patented Pagliachi full reverse jinx Doom Hole

Last time opening night was this deflating was Halloween night 2000. After the Ewing trade 76ers came into MSG and blew out the Knicks by 29.

Knicks did win 48 games that season though.

It’s kind of weird that Thibs didn’t switch the Tatum matchup to OG at some point.

I mean I truly don’t know what you can do about this shooting. At least Bridges looks a little less Knoblauched.

Are they saying Yankees Suck?

They won the NBA, got their rings, are steamrolling the Knicks, and yet they can’t stop thinking about the Yankees. It’s so funny.

Bridges with 3 (consecutive buckets)
Celtics with 3 (after 3 after 3 after 3)

So who else is surprised Flaherty is starting Game 1 instead of Yamamoto?

Yamamoto needs the extra rest.

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This game doesn’t suggest anything either way, just some crazy shooting by Boston.

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Big shot by Jalen! Their decision to not double him is SO silly.

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The NBA record is 29 three-pointers. They made 24 by the middle of the third. Most of them without any Knicks defender nearby.

This game doesn’t suggest anything either way, just some crazy shooting by Boston.

Exactly

A selfless 5-out offense, with every player an above average three point shooter, is close to impossible to defend on a “good” night…

The Pacers cooked Thibs crew on defense last time they played a meaningful game. Same thing tonight…

I mean, there’s plenty of shit the Knicks need to clean up on defense, but it’s early and this shot making is absurd.

Did Juan Soto sell the Knicks’ soul to the devil to hit that homer? This shooting looks utterly supernatural.

Tatum was wide open, held it, waited for Sims to guard him, then fired the 3 and made it. (It’s like when I play in the driveway with my 8 year old)

Did Juan Soto sell the Knicks’ soul to the devil to hit that homer? This shooting looks utterly supernatural.

If he did, I’m not even mad

This rotation feels like last year, before we traded IQ, when we never had our five best players on the court at the same time.

I’ve watching this sparingly, but I am shocked that it is only a 26 point game. Feels like Celtics are up 50.

Conceded 43 points in the first quarter, 74 in the half, 113 in three quarters. I don’t think these are good numbers. 😂

I’m trying not to hyperventilate. The Celtics are relaxed in every way – all of that pressure is off. We are tight and newly constructed. It will be ok…..just not tonight.

I remember watching Stephon Marbury’s debut, with Isiah unveiling his new toy, and the Knicks being embarrassed off the court by Steve Francis and the Rockets. This feels like a similar Failure to Launch.

If they shoot 45 threes, even if they only make .333%, and we take 20 and make half, they’d still be beating us. But they’ve made 26 threes — 5 more than we’ve taken.

Edit: and only one (1) steal tonight so far.

we’re clearly a work in progress, not only the players need to learn how to play together on both sides, Thibs needs time to clear his head about the rotations too… it’s a long season

It’s nice that Bridges is showing some progress.

is defending 3s allowed in the NBA? asking for a friend (thibs)

This is a bigger concern long term. Thibs scheme allows so many 3 pointers

“This is a bigger concern long term. Thibs scheme allows so many 3 pointers.”

Thibs is gonna have to construct a defense with a roster outside his typical comfort zone. He’s got three elite perimeter defenders, so whining and complaining on his part isn’t gonna be an option.

My prediction of us being below average defensively was way too conservative. We might be bottom 5.

It’s not just that they broke the all time record for three point makes. They’re going to CRUSH it. We don’t seem to have the personnel to even try to prevent an open 3 every possession. There are going to be an awful lot of nights this year where opponents just never seem to miss, and get the rebound every time they do

If they get their asses kicked by the Pacers, that’ll be something. This is nothing.

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Why is OG still in this game? If it’s a form of punishment for his God awful game than I understand.

One annoying thing about being hard-capped is I have to grumble about the fact that Sims isn’t worth $2M

celtics will get the record, but it’s funny to see them getting tight and going cold trying to get the final 3.

I still laugh every time I think of pt Milo’s description of Kolek as the bully in a teen rom-com.

Why is OG still in this game?

Big Blue Al with the first minutes police post of the year. That was +7000 on fanduel.

C’s are just gonna shoot 3pt every time down to try and break the record. Kolek’s 3 was sweet.

Maybe Huk, Dadiet and Kolek are the real championship core.

the biggest 3

Sims is beginning to annoy me. I may have depart this particular island.

That defense was the problem became evident from the first minutes. What is shocking is that there was no improvement thereafter, not even in the second half.

KAT is not a needle mover. I never liked that trade. I hope I’m wrong. Deuce and the second half Bridges were the positives for us tonight.

Still 81 games to play. We will figure it out, no doubt. Tonight was a good lesson though. A really good lesson.

KAT is not a needle mover.

Julius Randle wasn’t moving the needle either. Did you see what OG did today? The 40 million dollar a year man..

The Great Clown Pagliaccisays:
October 22, 2024 at 21:25
My prediction of us being below average defensively was way too conservative. We might be bottom 5.

It’s not just that they broke the all time record for three point makes. They’re going to CRUSH it. We don’t seem to have the personnel to even try to prevent an open 3 every possession. There are going to be an awful lot of nights this year where opponents just never seem to miss, and get the rebound every time they do

Pags this was a wild use of your reverse jinx powers but at least we know you’re in mid season form, even if most of the team is not.

Yes let’s take a one game performance and lament the OG trade. That’s not an overreaction at all

Hang the banner (stopped Boston from setting the 3pm record)

OG was 1-7 including 0-4 from three.

Somehow Mikal went from shooting 10% to 54% for the game!

Incredible Huk had 4 rebounds in 6 minutes, which is a nice per 36.

Deuce was 8-10 including 4-5 from three. My heart is glowing…

LOL

Boston ties the NBA record with 29 made 3s, but missed 13 triples in a row over the final 8:54 of game action to fall short of becoming the first team in NBA history to make 30 in a game.

Honestly the only thing that pissed me off tonight was KAT not jumping on the opening tip. I know it’s meaningless in the long run but this team was built on being fierce & competitive and to start the season with such an effortless surrender felt symbolic of the changes we made. Julius Randle was a warrior and Donte DiVincenzo ran through walls. The least you can do is jump, KAT.

Please let that be the last time he ever reminds me of Eddy Curry.

Everything else… whatever… next game.

Julius Randle was a warrior

Randle took multiple defensive possessions off every game to argue with the refs and spent his entire third season here not giving any effort.

We paid gold for Bridges and OG in order to improve our perimeter defense and not get caught in a simple screen or get sucked in the paint without recovering. All those and more, don’t forget that defense is A TEAM thing, were letting the Celtics shoot wide open 3s almost every time down. That was embarrassing. There’s A LOT to improve on defense. Thibs has a lot of work to do.

“Randle took multiple defensive possessions off every game to argue with the refs and spent his entire third season here not giving any effort.”

Yeah, he sucked! Those 3 all-stars and 2 all-NBAs were bullshit!

It’s a reasonable critique, ThisChicanery, but generally speaking Randle’s compete level was pretty high.

Sorry but it was literally the first play of his Knicks career and he took it off. And then he proceeded to take a bunch of defensive possessions off, as well, including not chasing a transition breakaway.

It was a very inauspicious start for a guy with a worrisome reputation. I hope it’s a blip but he made a very bad first impression.

I was very disconcerted with the 3 point defense tonight. I’m also not concerned about it yet. I think Boston wanted to make a statement and they did. Next game we’ll see the response.

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