BOSTON — Jalen Brunson stood inside TD Garden hours before Opening Night careful not to hype up the Knicks’ ability to match up with the defending champions. OG Anunoby’s arrival allowed for a convincing win late last year, but they lost 4-of-5 overall, Brunson emphasized, before New York transformed its roster this summer into a group that could play five-out. And while early in the development of that style, he considered their first meeting to be a real assessment of where the Knicks stand.
The Celtics rode three-point volume, spacing and doing the little things on offense to the 2024 championship.