NEW YORK — As the Celtics were led in crunch time by Kristaps Porzingis in their win over the Knicks, it was a first view of the new-look C’s. Porzingis made franchise history by pouring in 30 points, which is the most-ever in a debut performance. Jayson Tatum paced the Celtics with 34 points himself.
But second-team All-NBA star Jaylen Brown had a slow game. Brown finished with just 11 points, six rebounds and five assists on 4-of-11 shooting. While he finished with only two turnovers, they were a pair of tough mistakes that led to six Knicks points late in the game. Despite some of the early struggles, his teammates aren’t worried about him at all.
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“It was just one game,” Tatum said. “We know how special he is. Everybody’s going to have not great shooting nights, but he still impacted the game in other ways. He got some key rebounds and loose balls at the end to give us some more possessions. I’m not going to shoot the ball great some nights, KP’s not, but it’s all about how you impact the game in other ways. So JB’s going to be fine. He’s probably going to have a great game on Friday.”
Brown did steady the game in the third quarter after starting off the game slow. As Tatum pointed out, it’s also just one game, as well. Brown also didn’t get the ball too much down the stretch as his teammates had it going — namely Porzingis, whose nine straight points helped the C’s clinch the win.
The Celtics are also still in a learning process when it comes to their new personnel. Considering it’s just Game 1 of an 82-game season, they still have plenty of time left to learn each other’s habits. Brown is included in that, of course, as he’s coming off a career-best season that earned him his supermax extension.
“I thought he fit in,” C’s coach Joe Mazzulla said. “He had three plays with poise where he hit KP on one, and I think he made three passes that got us back on the run. … I feel like it was a long game, but it was a stretch there where yeah, he had to just regain his composure. But once he did, I thought he made three really good plays.”
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