By Stephen Ur
The Boston Celtics opened their 2023-2024 season at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks on Wednesday night. Jrue Holiday was making his Celtics debut after playing for the Milwaukee Bucks for the last few seasons.
It was Jayson Tatum who stole the show for Boston, however, scoring 34 points on 13 of 22 shooting in a 108-104 opening season victory. Tatum also recorded 11 rebounds, giving him a double-double to open the season.
Kristaps Porzingis scored 30 points in the win, shooting 8 of 15 from the floor and 5 of 9 from three. One of those threes against his former team wound up being the go-ahead basket with 1:28 remaining.
Derrick White and Jalen Brown also scored in double figures, scoring 12 and 11 points respectively. Holiday scored just nine points in his Celtics debut, shooting 4 for 10 from the paint and 1 of 5 from downtown.
The Celtics will play their first home game of the season on Friday night at TD Garden in Boston as they take on the Miami Heat. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.