The Boston Celtics began their NBA title defense in impressive fashion when they defeated the New York Knicks 132-109 in their 2024-25 season opener. In the victory, the Celtics knocked down a staggering 29 3-pointers on the night.
Due to the Celtics' spectacular shooting performance, Knicks guard Josh Hart joked that perhaps the NBA needs to drug test some of the Celtic players.
"NBA needs to drug test all them. I ain't never seen nothing like that before," Hart said.
Josh Hart on the Celtics' hot shooting:
— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) October 23, 2024
"The NBA needs to drug test all of them, I'll tell you that right now. I ain't ever seen nothing like that before" 😭 pic.twitter.com/urNChH3Rpu
The Celtics jumped all over the Knicks out the gate as they gained a 43-24 lead after the opening quarter. When it was all said and done, the Celtics drained 29 of their 61 attempts from beyond the arc, good for a 47.5% clip.
Boston's 29 3s tied an NBA record previously set by the Milwaukee Bucks on Dec. 29, 2020. The Bucks accomplished the feat on just 51 attempts from 3.
Jayson Tatum led the way for the Celtics with 37 points on a stellar 8 of 11 performance from 3. Celtics guard Derrick White also recorded 24 points on 6 of 10 shooting from beyond the arc. Six total Celtics knocked down multiple 3s on the night.
On the other hand, the Knicks shot just 36.7% (11 of 30) from 3, while Hart finished 0 of 2 from distance.
It's hard to imagine a team having a better season-opening performance than what the Celtics put together.
