Their collective presence wasn’t a coincidence. They had assembled there on that night as friends and as Celtics family. The offspring of the original champions – the “First Flag Kids” – were there to support the eventual 2024 champions, while their fathers looked down proudly from the rafters.

The Boston Celtics have raised Banner 18 to the rafters. The NBA’s most-decorated franchise celebrated its latest championship on Tuesday night in a ceremony before opening night against the New York Knicks.

The TNT broadcast had the Celtics getting their 2024 championship rings, but not the actual hanging of Banner No. 18 up into the TD Garden rafters.

The revamped New York Knicks were one of the biggest stories of the NBA offseason, landing Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns in blockbuster trades.

After their first loss of the season to the defending champion Celtics, Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau along with captain Jalen Brunson and forward Josh Hart describe what went wrong and what New York needs to do better to be successful this season.

When the final buzzer sounded, the Celtics had made 29-of-61 three-point attempts—good for a 47.5% clip. Jayson Tatum led the team with 37 points on eight makes beyond the arc, and every other starter finished with at least three triples against New York.

Jayson Tatum was already a proven winner before last season. In Tatum’s first six seasons, no NBA player won more games with one team than he did. Tatum played in 334 wins with the Boston Celtics over that span,

Joe Mazzulla said the Celtics are under "zero pressure" to repeat as champions. "We're all going to be dead soon, and it really doesn't matter anymore," he said.

"We're all going to be dead soon, and it really doesn't matter anymore, so there's zero pressure." The post Joe Mazzulla drops an all-time quote when asked about pressure on 2024-25 Celtics appeared first on Boston.

The 2024-25 Boston Celtics are a rarity in the modern NBA: a reigning champion that was able to keep its roster almost entirely intact. Thirteen of the 15 players from the Celtics team that hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy are back this season,