Jalen Brunson Says Knicks 'Got Our Ass Kicked' vs. Celtics, 'I Got to Be Better'

The revamped New York Knicks were one of the biggest stories of the NBA offseason, landing Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns in blockbuster trades.

Despite many people believing they would be legitimate title contenders, the Knicks promptly opened the 2024-25 season with a 132-109 blowout loss against the defending champion Boston Celtics.

And Jalen Brunson wasn't happy about it.

"Personally, I got to be better," he told reporters after the loss. "It starts with my approach and everything, and I just got to be better. You can dissect everything, whatever, but they made a lot of threes, they probably made more than what we took. But we've got to be better on both sides of the ball, I've got to be better on both sides of the ball."

He also wasn't willing to blame the new-look roster for the early-season struggles:

The Celtics indeed finished the game by tying an NBA-record with 29 threes made on 61 attempts, while the Knicks finished 11-of-30 from beyond the arc. Newcomers Bridges (16 points, two assists) and Towns (12 points, seven boards) weren't terrible, but all five New York starters finished with an efficiency of minus-18 or worse.

They also had no answer for Jayson Tatum, who went off for 37 points and 10 assists.

The Knicks have plenty of time to come together as a group. They certainly got off to a rocky start, however.