The Boston Celtics kick off their NBA championship defence when they go head to head with the New York Knicks in the opening game of the 2024-25 regular season at the TD Garden on Tuesday.
While the Knicks will be looking to prove themselves as serious championship contenders from the East come 2025, they must first watch Boston don their rings and raise banner 18 following their 2023-24 title-winning run.
Match preview
Having stormed to their first NBA championship since 2008 and a franchise-record 18th title triumph last season, the Boston Celtics will head into the new campaign looking to defend their crown. Â
The Celtics simply ran away with it, finishing the regular season with a 64-18 record to clinch top seed in the East before going on a 16-3 in the playoff to finish with an 82-win campaign and land their first Larry O'Brien Championship trophy.
Led by the deadly tag team of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, Joe Mazzulla's men brushed aside the Miami Heat (4-1) and the Cleveland Cavaliers (4-1) en route to the Eastern Conference finals, where they swept the Indiana Pacers to show their title credentials.
After splitting the first two games of the Finals against the Dallas Mavericks, the Celtics upped the ante, winning each of the subsequent three games of the series by at least seven points — also restricting Dallas to under 100 points in each of the three games.
Having kept their core roster intact, Boston are favourites to go all the way this season and defend their crown, a feat that they last achieved back in 1969 and one most recently done by the Golden State Warriors in 2018.
The Celtics come into the 2024-25 season off the back of a solid pre-season campaign, where they finished with a 4-1 run while averaging 121.8 points per game — only the Indiana Pacers (124.0) ranked higher.
As for the New York Knicks, they will enter the new season looking to build on what was a largely positive 2023-24 campaign as they finished only behind the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference standings with a 50-32 record. Â
However, injuries took its toll on the Knicks in the post-season as their quest for a third championship came to an end in the Eastern Conference quarter-finals following a bright start to the Playoffs.
With Jalen Brunson leading the floor, the New York Knicks saw off the challenge of the Philadelphia 76ers with a 4-2 victory before suffering a gut-wrenching loss to the Indiana Pacers in a thrilling six-game series.
For general manager Leon Rose and head coach Tom Thibodeau, this was a huge step in the right direction for the franchise, who have retooled in the offseason as they go in search of their first Larry O'Brien Championship trophy since 1973.
Like the Celtics, the New York Knicks finished with a 4-1 run in pre-season, with their only defeat coming in the final exhibition game on Saturday, when they fell 118-117 to the Washington Wizards at the Capital One Arena.
While they look to cement themselves as legitimate championship contenders, their first assignment is against a stacked Boston Celtics side who have won five of their last six encounters since last October.
Interestingly, the Knick's only victory in that time came in their most recent matchup on April 12, when Brunson knocked down a game-high 39 points on 15-of-23 shooting from the field to hand the Celtics a 118-109 loss at the TD Garden.
- W
- W
- W
- W
- L
- W
- W
- W
- W
- L
Team News
While the Boston Celtics have had a quiet offseason in terms of movements and trades, they have brought in former guard Lonnie Walker IV from the Brooklyn Nets and drafted Baylor Scheierman 30th in the 2024 NBA Draft.
Brown was voted the NBA Finals MVP after averaging 20.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game, and the 27-year-old will once again lead arguably the league's best two-way roster alongside Tatum.
On the injury front, the Celtics will kick off the season without 29-year-old center Kristaps Porzingis, who has been sidelined through a foot injury since June and is not expected to make his return until December at the earliest.
While Boston have stood pat in the offseason, the New York Knicks have retooled ahead of the new campaign, bringing in Mikal Bridges, who should offer versatility, depth and team chemistry, having played with Brunson and Josh Hart in the 2016 Villanova Wildcats championship team.
The Knicks have also re-signed OG Anunoby, who averaged 14.7 points per game to go with 4.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists last season, handing the 27-year-old forward the second-largest contract in franchise history.
Thibodeau's men were also involved in one of the biggest moves in the offseason, trading Donte DiVincenzo, Julius Randle and Keita Bates-Diop in exchange for the Minnesota Timberwolves's Karl-Anthony Towns as they assembled a title-challenging roster.
The Knicks also have their fair share of injury concerns as Mitchell Robinson recuperates from an ankle problem while Precious Achiuwa is a major doubt after sustaining a hamstring injury in the final game of pre-season against the Wizards.
Boston Celtics possible starting 5:
Holiday, White, Brown, Tatum, Al Horford
New York Knicks possible starting 5:
Brunson, Hart, Bridges, Anunoby, Towns
We say: Boston Celtics to win by 3+ points
A new-look New York Knicks side will be looking to make an early statement and sound waves as legitimate contenders come 2025 and the Boston Celtics are the perfect side to do just that against.
However, a dominant pre-season run shows Mazzulla's men are not intent on resting on their laurels as they go in search of Banner 19 and we see them taking this one in a hard-fought battle. body check tags ::
Previews by email
