Opening night takeaways: New-look Celtics still suffering from last season's issues, but Porzingis saved day vs. Knicks

BOSTON -- In Wednesday night's season opener, the new-look Celtics did a lot of things the old-look Celtics did last year. They ran out to a big lead but nearly booted it away against the New York Knicks.

These Celtics, however, were able to pull out the win over the final minutes. They got back to running actual plays on offense, passing the ball, and locking down on defense. And Kristaps Porzingis had a hand in it too, scoring nine straight for Boston to secure the 108-104 victory.

As with most games, there were a lot of positives and a good amount of negatives. And considering it was just one game -- the first of 82, and then some more -- it's important not to overreact. At least not too much.

Here are some of those overreactions we felt throughout a fun/irritating/ultimately satisfying Celtics win at Madison Square Garden.

Kristaps Porzingis saved the day

He was awesome to start, solid in the middle, and then came through when the Celtics needed it most. Porzingis scored 15 points in the first quarter, and then hit the game-winning three after the Celtics nearly let the game slip away. 

He set a new Celtics record with 30 points in his team debut, and he was a game-changer on defense as well with four blocks. The expletive-laden chants from Knicks fans only fueled Porzingis to torch his former team more, and it saved the Celtics in the process.

The Celtics aren't going to get this every night from Porzingis, but he is an absolute game-changer on both ends of the floor for this team. Please please please please stay healthy.

Jayson Tatum was cooking for most of the game

Tatum led all scorers with a fairly effortless 34 points. He hit 13 of his 22 shots and went 3-for-8 from deep. What was most promising about his game was that Tatum did most of his damage around the hoop, going 8-for-9 in the paint. He was in attack mode for much of the evening, which is the mindset he needs to have on most nights.

He did disappear a bit in the fourth quarter, hitting his last shot with 8:06 left. and the pesky Knicks defense held him to just three shots overall in the fourth quarter. Usually a quiet finish like that from Tatum would have sunk the Celtics. It did not on Wednesday night thanks to Porzingis.

Jaylen Brown was not cooking

Brown is an All-NBA player and he will play much better than he did Wednesday night. Don't freak out too much about his disappointing season debut.

But Brown was just 4-for-11, finishing with 11 points. He missed all four of his three-point attempts. He did lead the team with five assists, but Brown nearly let the Knicks run away with the game all by himself. Over a 90-second stretch in the fourth, he threw the ball to the Knicks on a pass that wasn't there and then turned it over again on the next inbound. The Knicks hit threes on both of those gifts from Brown, and to make matters even worse, Brown fouled Quentin Grimes to make that second three a four-point play.

He will be better, and there will be plenty of nights where Brown will lead the Celtics to a win. But he wasn't engaged at times and had a handful of mental errors on Wednesday night, and it nearly cost his team the game. 

The Celtics still have late-game issues

The Celtics went ice cold in the fourth quarter, going 5-for-14 overall and just 2-for-9 from three. They also had four of the team's 11 turnovers in the frame. (See the Jaylen Brown blurb above.)

They got their heads out of their behinds in the final minutes, but the Celtics really need to avoid these icy stretches. Especially in the fourth quarter, on the road, against a scrappy team like the Knicks.

Jrue Holiday's defense is elite

Holiday was quiet on the offensive end in his debut, finishing with nine points, but boy was he impactful on defense. If you were worried about Boston replacing Marcus Smart's defensive tenacity, fret no more.

Holiday was a menace on whoever he matched up against, especially against Julius Randle early on. Overall, Randle was 1-for-10 when Holiday was guarding him.

He didn't log any steals, but Holiday's quick hands mucked things up for the Knicks offense with three deflections. The guard also finished with three blocks on the evening. 

Boston's perimeter defense is not so elite

Overall, the Celtics held the Knicks to 37 percent for the game, with New York going 36-for-97 from the field. The Knicks hit just 11 of their 34 shots in the paint. That's pretty damn good. (The Celtics were so imposing that the Knicks were also just 14-for-26 from the free throw line.)

But further out, the Celtics let the Knicks get comfortable and get hot. Real hot. New York was 18-for-41 from three, which was nearly the difference in the game if it wasn't for Porzingis' hot stretch at the end. And the Knicks aren't even a good three-point shooting team.

The Celtics are going to have to do a much better job defending the perimeter.

Joe Mazzulla called timeouts!

You can't get on the C's head coach for hanging onto his timeouts like they're some sort of valuable and rare Pokemon cards. He called one in the third quarter as the Knicks turned an 11-point Boston lead into a one-point advantage in just over a minute, and then he used two (TWO!) in the final minute. 

He called one when Tatum found himself in front of a wall of Knicks and nearly turned it over with 20 seconds left and the C's hanging on to a two-point lead. The Celtics only had three seconds to get the ball across midcourt, so Mazzulla burned his final timeout to advance the ball. Tatum found Payton Pritchard (barely) on the inbound and the guard knocked down two free throws to seal the victory.

It's only one game into his second season as a head coach, and Joe has already shown some growth. And if you're worried about his Game 1 rotation (Porzingis played 38 minutes!), that will get ironed out over the coming weeks. 

The new flop technicals are going to get real old, real fast

That is, if they aren't already. There were two in Wednesday night's Celtics-Knicks game, and they were both questionable to say the least.

Porzingis was whistled for one with under eight minutes to go in the fourth quarter when Donte DiVincenzo threw an elbow into his chest and he fell back. It was kinda funny to see the 7-foot-3 Porzingis timber over from a shot by the 6-foot-4 DiVincenzo, but it happens. He didn't oversell it and he didn't complain to the refs. 

Jalen Brunson's "flop" technical was even worse though. He was called for a flop when he fell down after a three-point attempt -- when he landed on Tatum's foot. What should have been a flagrant on Tatum ended up being a flop on Brunson. 

Hey, it was Game 1 for everyone. Maybe the NBA really wants to send a message that flailing and falling over the littlest bit of contact will not be tolerated anymore. 

But if this is how the new flopping rules are going to be enforced, it's going to be a long, long season.