The Knicks and Celtics are set to meet Friday at TD Garden, and the matchup already carries more edge than a normal early-season game. Both teams opened with losses, and Mitchell Robinson will be on the Boston sideline against the club he left in the offseason.
Robinson signed a three-year deal with the Celtics on July 6, then played 18 minutes in his debut and finished with four points, three rebounds and two blocked shots. For Boston, that is the first sign of how he fits into a roster still trying to settle after a rough opening night. For New York, it is one more reminder of a change that arrived after the team brought back everyone from last year’s rotation except Robinson.
The Knicks need a cleaner start after falling 106-100 to the visiting Sixers on Tuesday, a game in which Karl-Anthony Towns battled foul trouble and Andre Drummond supplied 12 points and 14 rebounds in 24 minutes. Jalen Brunson did not dress up the loss. He said it was good for the team to get knocked down, humble itself, check its ego and see what happens next. That is the kind of message that matters most when a team is 0-1 and already searching for the first correction.
Boston’s own fix is less abstract. The Celtics lost 121-113 to the host Pistons after squandering a 22-point third-quarter lead, then head home for their opener with the same problem now sitting in plain view. They can turn to Robinson for defense and energy, but the bigger question is how they clean up a game they once controlled. Friday is not just another meeting between the Knicks and Celtics. It is the first immediate test of whether either side can turn an opening loss into a reset before the record starts to harden.
