Three studs, three duds from the Celtics' season-opening loss to the Knicks

BOSTON – The Celtics started their title defense with a bang.

Capitalizing on the momentum by raising a championship banner on the TD Garden Rafters on Tuesday night, Boston delivered a nearly flawless performance – the Celtics shot a blistering 29-for-61 from 3-point range, tying the NBA record for Most triples in a game in a 132-109 loss to the New York Knicks.

Here are three tips and three duds from a resounding season-opening win for the Celtics:

SUPPORT
Jayson Tatum
Any concerns about Tatum's jump shot, which he reworked in the offseason after struggling with it in last season's playoffs, were immediately brushed aside. Tatum showed off some shooting as he led Boston's 3-point barrage. The Knicks had no answer for Tatum as he scored a game-high 37 points on a ridiculous 14-for-18 shooting from the field, including 8-for-11 from long range. He also provided ten assists and grabbed four rebounds. The MVP train could start early for Tatum as he certainly looked like it against the Knicks.

Derrick White
While he focused all the attention on Tatum and Jaylen Brown, White reminded everyone that he can also play at a star level. White delivered a sensational performance, scoring 24 points and knocking down six triples. The 30-year-old guard also remained strong and contributed four assists and three rebounds.

Bob Cousy
Cousy implored the Celtics to win an NBA title last season and said he wanted to attend the team's banner-raising ceremony. The Celtics legend stayed true to his word. Cousy, himself aged 96, was present at the celebrations and received plenty of cheers. The fans' admiration for Cousy felt like TD Garden had stepped back into a time machine when the perennial point guard won six titles for the Celtics in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Idiots
Mikal Bridges
Bridges was one of New York's biggest acquisitions of the offseason, along with Karl-Anthony Towns. But the seventh-year forward delivered a poor performance in his Knicks debut. Bridges' ugly new jump shot certainly didn't help him, as he missed the first five shots he took, four of them from 3-point range. Bridges finished the game with 16 points and posted a lousy -33 in the loss.

Knicks defense
The Knicks allowed 108.2 points per game last season, second best in the NBA. But their defense offered no resistance to the Celtics, who scored 113 points in three quarters, as New York found itself on the other side of a shooting avalanche. Tom Thibodeau's teams are always known for their strong defense and still have a lot of work to do after a terrible performance.

TNT
TNT basically had one job to do before the Celtics and Knicks tipped off: show Boston raising the championship banner. But TNT couldn't even do that right. The broadcast paused as the Celtics raised the championship banner to the rafters and fans at home eagerly awaited the end of the ceremony.