The Whiteboard: The Celtics' record pace and more overreactions to opening night

They always tell you not to overreact to opening night, but we will ignore all the flashing yellow lights and do it anyway. Here are four over-the-top overreactions from Tuesday’s opening slate.

The Celtics will set a new record for net rating

I woke up this morning and checked the Boston Celtics’ net rating. It’s plus-25.3, which makes sense after their 132-109 roasting of the New York Knicks.

They poured in an NBA record-tying 29 3-pointers, attempting 61 in total (but it probably would have been less if the reserves didn’t spend the last eight minutes missing 13 straight to try to break the record). Jayson Tatum roared with 37 points and 10 assists. Jaylen Brown and Derrick White did their thing. They scored at a pace of 145.1 points per 100 possessions against Tom Thibodeau’s defense.

While the reigning champion Celtics started where they left off, the Knicks most certainly did not. Wholesale changes to the roster mean this team needs time to gel. This mostly applies to Karl-Anthony Towns, who didn’t have the best Knicks debut.

“Bodega KAT” was nowhere to be seen. He had 12 forgettable points and seven forgettable rebounds. New York’s floor-spacing weapon attempted two forgettable 3-pointers. Joe Mazulla broke out playoff-type game-planning on the first night, slotting Jrue Holiday on Towns to bait him into post-ups. It looked good for Towns at first, but the Celtics will live with this knowing they will win the math problem in the end.

Of course, the Celtics won’t end the season with a plus-25.3 net rating, but this is a good start. The record was set by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, who have the NBA’s highest recorded net rating at 13.4. Next are the 1996-97 Bulls (11.8), followed by last season’s Celtics (11.7) and the 2016-17 Golden State Warriors (11.4).

That’s awesome territory for this Celtics group, and they could end up breaking the record by the time it’s over.

Miles McBride will be the Knicks’ second-leading scorer

As KAT disappeared and Mikal Bridges picked the perfect (read: not perfect) time to take a new shooting form out for a spin, Miles McBride used the evening to tie Jalen Brunson with a team-high 22 points.

The Knicks played two of their “stars” on the court at all times, tethering Brunson to Bridges and Towns to OG Anunoby. In the minutes Brunson rested, McBride stepped in. These units are built for Towns to go off, but he didn’t get the memo. 

Instead, McBride slid into the driver’s seat and took over. He made eight of his 10 shot attempts, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range. He stretched and snapped Boston’s vaunted defense with sheer audacity.

McBride is a bucket. He’s among the early favorites to win Sixth Man of the Year. If he really is this important to New York’s offense, that might be a good bet.

Anthony Davis will have his best season yet

Davis’ box score from the Lakers’ 110-103 win over the Timberwolves looks like you smashed a calculator with your hand: 36 points on 11-of-23 shooting, 16 rebounds, four assists, three blocks and a steal. He was the best player on a court he shared with LeBron James and Anthony Edwards.

New Lakers coach JJ Redick spent the preseason talking about how he was going to involve Davis more in the offense. Last season under Darvin Ham, Davis was mostly used as a pick-and-roll finisher. According to Synergy, 20.3 percent of his attempts came as a roll man, close to his career high. Davis is an elite finisher and that stuff is important to him and the Lakers’ shot diet, but he is also more than that.

He’s a matchup nightmare.

And at 6-foot-10 with a 9-foot standing reach, an excellent bail-out option at the end of the shot clock. He’s also an excellent passer. 

Redick stationed Davis at the triple-threat position near the free-throw line. It applied steady pressure on the Timberwolves defense. You can’t leave him alone there because he’s too close to the basket. From that spot, he ran pick-and-rolls with a small setting the screen, hoisted jumpers and made quick cuts behind the defense.

It’s clear that Redick is empowering Davis to be the hub of the Lakers’ offense, and the production should follow.

The Timberwolves have to bench Mike Conley

By the time Conley’s first stint was over, Minnesota was down 13-7. When he checked out of his second stint, the deficit had grown to 14. In that time, Conley coughed up three turnovers and didn’t take a single shot. Conley finished the game with five points on 1-for-7 shooting, missed all five of his 3-point attempts, and had two assists to three turnovers. He played just nine minutes in the second half while Donte DiVincenzo played 18, including with the closing lineup.

Conley is a beloved NBA vet –— the Al Horford of point guards. But he’s also 37 and age is flooding his game. DiVincenzo is just a better player at this stage, and he’ll likely be closing most games this season.

But can the Timberwolves afford for Conley to start? They were out-scored by 22 points in his 20 minutes. The Timberwolves aren’t built to come back from early deficits. Benching Conley might be the most prudent move.

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NBA news roundup

• Minutes before tip-off, ESPN reported that the Timberwolves and Rudy Gobert agreed on a three-year, $110 million contract extension. Gobert will decline his $46.6 million salary for next season and start a new deal with an average annual value of $36.7 million. It saves the Timberwolves nearly $10 million next season and make it possible for them to dodge the luxury tax completely. A team that was in salary cap hell just a month ago has cleaned up their books.

• Paul George and Joel Embiid will not play in the Philadelphia 76ers’ season opener against the Milwaukee Bucks, the team announced. Embiid, who didn’t play in the preseason for what the team called left knee injury management, will miss at least the first three games. George will be re-evaluated later this week after hyperextending his left knee in an Oct. 14 preseason game against the Atlanta Hawks.

LeBron and Bronny James make history

LeBron and Bronny James on Tuesday became the first father-son duo in NBA history to appear in a game together, a moment LeBron said he “will never forget.” 

With 4:00 left in the second quarter, LeBron and Bronny walked to the scorer’s table to check in for the historic moment. 

"That moment, us being at the scorer's table together and checking in together, something I will never forget," LeBron told reporters in a joint postgame news conference with Bronny. "No matter how old I get, no matter how my memory may fade as I get older or whatever, I will never forget that moment."

Bronny recorded zero points and a rebound in 2:41 of playing time. He got punked by Julius Randle on his first possession, but had a solid stop on Anthony Edwards moments later.

"I tried not to focus on everything that was going on around me and tried to focus on going in as a rookie and not trying to mess up," Bronny said. "But yeah, I totally did feel the energy, and I appreciate the Laker Nation for showing the support for me and my dad."