The Knicks are bringing their Celtics model to Boston for the start

BOSTON – The draft was printed in Celtics green, a plan Boston used to become NBA champions by building a team full of versatility and firepower. And after a successful run as a team that would engage opponents in a dogfight, Leon Rose and the Knicks front office decided to go with the plan.

So Tuesday night marks the first test of how well the Knicks' version of the Celtics model – a team of interchangeable players with a center who draws the opponent beyond the three-point line – will perform compared to the original.

“Whenever a team wins the championship, everyone analyzes how they did it, what their personnel was like, what their plan was and so on,” Jalen Brunson said after the Knicks' morning shootaround before the season opener at TD Garden, where they The championship will increase the Celtics' NBA championship banner. “So I don’t want to speak for the rest of the league, but a lot of people saw how successful they were with their offense, their five outs, their schemes, whatever.

“So it may not be a copy, but every time someone wins this way, everyone is going to want to get used to the new way of basketball.”

The Knicks are not exactly mimicking the Celtics, nor will the Celtics release their full roster. Kristaps Porzingis will likely be sidelined for at least the first two months as he recovers from offseason ankle surgery. But you can see the ideas – a big deal for Karl-Anthony Towns, an elite big shooter, and another for Mikal Bridges, a two-way wing who could help OG Anunoby and Josh Hart, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen from the Celtics to defend Braun.

“Yes, it will clear the playing field for everyone,” Anunoby said of the addition of Towns. “The lanes move out the middle, which should be really fun. It will be exciting.”

And the Knicks have their own pedigree. After losing their first four meetings with Boston last season, the Knicks managed to build a lead as high as 31 before settling for a nine-point win last April with Julius Randle out and Anunoby returning from injury was.

So if the Knicks can retain some of their “drag through the mud” style — look to Brunson, Hart and coach Tom Thibodeau as a blueprint for that — and add a version of the Celtics' style, perhaps their version can keep up with the original or surpass it.

“Obviously the ball went in that night,” Brunson said of April’s win over Boston. “But we can't think about the other four defeats we had against them. We had a good game against them, but they beat us most of the season. I mean, we can do good things, but we have to be more consistent when it comes to implementing them.

“The most important thing is that we stick together through everything. You can go through the Xs and Os of everything, but whatever happens in the game, you have to adapt, positive or negative, and just make sure we're out there as a team. That's all we focus on.

The Celtics will get their rings and raise another banner to the ceiling, but coach Joe Mazzulla is already working to get the Celtics to forget the past and focus on the task of repeating.

“This team, the 2024-25 Celtics, is not great yet. That’s exactly what it is,” Mazzulla told reporters on Monday. “Do we have the potential to do this? Yes. The key word “yet” is very important. Do we have great talent? Yes. Do we have great players? Yes. Do we have a good foundation? Yes. Is this 24-25 team great yet? No, because we haven't been in a game yet. It just takes time and every season is different. Assuming that you will simply (repeat) what you have done in the past does not necessarily mean that it will work now. You have to keep an open mind to do something different.”

Game one of 82 – just a few weeks after this group was fully assembled – is an interesting benchmark for the Knicks, a chance to showcase the new roster on national television against the team that is everyone's hurdle. Brunson insisted it was not too early to put this to the test.

“NO. Not at all,” Brunson said. “I think if you win last season and almost everyone is back, I think everyone is back, you're obviously in a good position to do good things the following year. So this is a good test for us. I mean, obviously they're a great team and we'll have to see where we are.”

Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, as well as nearly every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.