Kristaps Porzingis scores 30, seals win at MSG in Celtis debut.
0news celebrityz24October 26, 2023
"That was awesome," Porzingis said, smiling broadly, when asked how it felt to beat his previous team in his first game with his new one. "I'm not going to lie, it was fantastic. Playing in the Garden is always great as the home team, but it's also a lot of joy to come here on the road.
"It got really crazy at one point when the fans got into it and they made the comeback." But we remained steady and controlled, and we were able to finish the game.
"Overall, a fun game to play in, for sure.
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The Celtics and Bucks began the season as NBA title favorites.
Porzingis had a dream start, setting a franchise record for most points in a Celtics debut, beating Dominique Wilkins' 25 in 1994.
Scores-Kristaps Porzingis made an excellent debut for the Boston Celtics, scoring 30 points, grabbing 8 rebounds, and blocking 4 shots as his team defeated the New York Knicks 108-104 at Madison Square Garden.
Highlights
He also demonstrated his adaptability. He led the team in both 3s, hitting 5 of the 12 Celtics, and also led the team in free throws, going 9-for-10. He blocked four shots, changed several others, and finished with a plus-13 rating in 38 minutes
Joe Mazzulla, the coach of the Celtics, stated. "So we just have to keep improving our spacing and our 2-on-1 reads, and they'll look different than they did at times last year with him on the floor." But, thanks to him, we'll be able to go to some more post-ups like we did down the stretch and really disrupt the spacing of the game."He has an innate ability to put two on the ball, whether they're trying to pop and veer, whether they're trying to blitz him, and so when he gets the space, he's a magnet,""
The Celtics needed every bit of Porzingis' genius after falling behind 99-93 with 4:10 remaining, thanks to an unlucky 35 seconds from Jaylen Brown, who made two bad passes -- one in the half court that was straight to Knicks guard Jalen Brunson and another on an ensuing inbounds pass after a Julius Randle 3-pointer. Brown also fouled out Quentin Grimes on a successful triple.
That turned a tie game into a six-point deficit, driving the Garden crowd into a frenzy and putting the Knicks in position to beat Boston on national television for the second time in three seasons.Instead, the Celtics went on a 13-3 run, led by Porzingis, who sank six free throws sandwiched around a monster 3-pointer on the right wing that put the Celtics up for good with 89 seconds remaining.
"That was big," remarked Jayson Tatum. "I think we made timely plays to call that timeout right there and figure it out." Getting the bonus obviously helped. However, rebounding was harming us by allowing them second and third chances.
So once we began getting stops, we simply gave them one shot and we were in control.
"We knew we wanted to run, we knew who we were trying to attack and we executed."
