The Boston Celtics will come home on Friday night for the first time in 2026-27 as they take on the New York Knicks in Game 2 of the season.
The Celtics are coming off a disappointing 121-113 loss in the opener against the Detroit Pistons, a game which saw them blow a 22-point lead in the third quarter.
The Knicks are also coming off a loss, as their banner-raising night was ruined by a 106-100 loss against the Philadelphia 76ers. With that in mind, here's what we want to see in Boston on Friday night.
1) A better Jayson Tatum
Jayson Tatum is not going to shoot 6-of-23 every night and he's not going to 0-for-7 from three-point range.
That said, we'd like to see that better performance come right away.
Tatum is this team's best player, and he's tasked with carrying the organization in the wake of the Jaylen Brown trade. This team, simply put, cannot be a contender if he has many games like the one he played on Tuesday afternoon. They need him to be an aircraft carrier. He will be.
And it needs to start on Friday.
2) A better group of big men
The trio of Mitchell Robinson, Neemias Queta and Luka Garza has over $100 million invested in it. That trio on Tuesday had just nine points and nine rebounds as the Celtics were out-rebounded by 10.
That's unacceptable, and Robinson's comments from Thursday's practice shows that he knows it.
The Knicks have Karl-Anthony Towns, who is excellent, but with Robinson's departure from New York in free agency, they aren't as deep on the interior. Perhaps that's a group that this group of Celtics can play well against.
3) How about a Paul George encore?
The newcomer, in his 17th season, went for 38 points in the opener on 12-of-21 shooting. Ultimately, those need to be the kind of numbers that Tatum is putting up, but it's great to see what George can bring to the table still.
He was also 7-of-12 from 3-point range, proving that he dramatically raises the ceiling on this team.
4) And how about the George reception?
A 38-point debut will help soften any crowd, but there were several Celtics fans upset at the trade of Brown this offseason. It will still be interesting to see how people embrace George in the opener, though I expect he will be met with solid cheers.