NEW YORK — Joe Mazzulla admitted before Wednesday’s season opener that the Celtics didn’t have an identity last season. The circumstances of the beginning of that training camp simply didn’t give them enough time. But with enough preparation going into this season, Mazzulla emphasized the importance of setting one.
“Humility. Mindset. Toughness. Passion. Togetherness. Just be nasty,” Mazzulla said. So we’ll see if that happens.”
The first test came Wednesday. In control for most of their opener, the Celtics suddenly let go of the rope. They were unraveling. The Knicks and their rabid Madison Square Garden crowd smelled blood. But they never tasted it.
The expectation is that these Celtics, with their superior top-end talent, should breeze to at least the conference finals, if not win the whole thing. But Wednesday revealed they’re unsurprisingly not close to a finished product. On Wednesday, they relied on that newly formed identity to tough out an ugly but gritty 108-104 victory over the Knicks.
Jayson Tatum scored 34 points and Kristaps Porzingis poured in 30 points in his Celtics debut, powering them on both ends and leading them to the finish line of this heart-pounding win. The C’s trailed for the first time in the fourth quarter but proved resilient late with defense and toughness to scratch their way to a season-opening victory.
“We stayed poised, we stayed calm,” Porzingis said.
“Resilient,” added Jrue Holiday. “No matter if we’re down 10 points with four minutes to go, we always have a chance. I think we just kind of banded together.”
They needed to in crunch time.
The Celtics were in control for most of the night. They held off the Knicks’ runs in the opening three quarters, including a quick 10-0 flurry in the third when they responded with a 7-0 run. But they lost their way in the fourth. Bad offense, poor ball movement and missed shots threatened to undo the Celtics.
The first three minutes of the fourth were a nightmare for the Celtics as the Knicks went on a 13-2 run, capped by Josh Hart’s 3-pointer that gave the Knicks their first lead of the night at 86-84, which fired up the New York crowd.
Poor late-game execution was an Achilles’ heel of the Celtics last season, and it looked like that theme would continue into their season opener. The game was tied at 93 with under five minutes to go when Jaylen Brown committed two costly turnovers that led to two Knicks 3-pointers. The second one was bad, as Brown threw an inbounds pass intended for Tatum that was off, leading to Quentin Grimes’ 3-pointer, in which Brown fouled him, that put the Knicks up six with 4:10 left.
The Celtics pulled together.
“We had enough time,” Holiday said. “There’s always enough time to just kind of settle in and get back into the game. I know there’s runs. I think the last one came quick right after the timeout, so we know that we can be poised and what kind of talent we have and we just have to go out there and lock it in.”
The Celtics had more than enough time and relied on their new weapon down the stretch: Porzingis.
The Celtics trailed by two with 2:03 to go when Porzingis came down with a defensive rebound and inadvertently elbowed Isaiah Hartenstein in the face. After a review, Porzingis was issued a technical foul. He heard it from the New York crowd, who targeted a profanity-laced chant at their former player.
Porzingis heard it. It fueled him down the stretch. He said it motivated him.
Porzingis scored nine consecutive Celtics points that put them in the lead, including a huge 26-footer with 1:29 to go that gave them the lead for good. He missed another on the next possession that would have served as the dagger, but the Celtics made more than enough plays down the stretch on both ends to survive.
The difference was Porzingis, who was acquired in part to help them in these moments. Last season, they routinely lost games in these situations.
“Yeah, I think we were just calm, collective and executed the last four minutes or whatever when we called that timeout,” Tatum said. “We knew what to run, we knew what sets we need to be in and who to attack to make the right play. Guys made shots, KP made shots. Guys made plays.”
The Celtics were far from perfect, but they didn’t have to be. They know it was just the first of 82 – and more once they hit the postseason. They know they’re still fitting the puzzle pieces together as they bring along both Porzingis and Holiday. They know it’s not supposed to be a finished product yet.
“Long way to go,” Tatum said. “We got 81 games left. Figure this (expletive) out.”
