NBA opening night: Anthony Davis leads Lakers past Timberwolves on big night for LeBron, Bronny James; Celtics roll past Knicks

There was no comeback for the Timberwolves. On a big night for Anthony Davis, the Lakers secured a 110-103 win over the Timberwolves in JJ Redick's debut as an NBA head coach.

The Lakers responded to the Timberwolves run to extend their lead to 103-93 with 3:37 remaining. Minnesota needs some stops down the stretch.

Minnesota opened the fourth quarter with a 7-3 run to cut the Lakers' lead to 85-81 and force a timeout. A Naz Reid 3 capped a 12-3 run that extended to the third quarter.

The Timberwolves cut the Lakers lead to single digits with a 7-2 run to end the third quarter and remain in striking distance.

Anthony Davis is the best player on the court through 3 quarters with 25 points and 12 rebounds. Anthony Edwards leads the Timberwolves with 19 points and 5 five rebounds. He's made 4 of 9 3-point attempts. Minnesota will need a big fourth quarter from its young star to mount a rally.

The Timberwolves traded away an All-Star level scorer and rebounder in Karl-Anthony Towns. They've allowed 14 offensive rebounds to the Lakers so far and face a 74-55 discrepancy in field goal attempts.

They're still in striking distance as the Lakers hold a 77-65 lead late in the third quarter. But they're struggling on offense and on the boards.

Anthony Davis has been one of the NBA's best defenders since he first stepped foot on an NBA court. He's never won Defensive Player of the Year. This block on reigning and four-time DPOY Rudy Gobert must have felt good.

The second half is underway. Can the Timberwolves make it a game?

Here's LeBron getting Bronny ready from the bench just moments before their father-son debut on the court.

Anthony Davis leads the Lakers at halftime with 12 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Rui Hachimura has 11 points. LeBron James has eight. Rookie Dalton Knecht scored five quick points in his first NBA action off the bench. Bronny James posted 0 points on two shots and tallied a single rebound in a brief appearance alongside his dad late in the half.

Anthony Edwards has largely been a one-man show for the Timberwolves with 14 points and 3 rebounds. Nickeil Alexander-Walker is Minnesota's next-leading scorer with 7 points off the bench.

The Lakers are shooting just 41.5% (22 of 53) from the field and 15.8% from 3 (3 of 19), but have limited Minnesota to 16 field goals on just 39 attempts (41%) while forcing 10 Timberwolves turnovers.

The Lakers opened the second quarter with a 29-9 run to open up a 51-32 lead late in the second quarter. The Timberwolves battled back to cut into their deficit and trail the Lakers, 55-42 at halftime.

Bronny James' first turn in the rotation as an NBA player lasted 2:41. He took and missed two shots including a 3-point attempt on a pass from LeBron and heads back to the bench with 1:19 remaining in the half. He logged a rebound before leaving the game.

The James' had their moment. Will we see Bronny again tonight in anything other than garbage time?

With the Lakers holding a 51-35 lead and four minutes remaining in the second quarter, the long-awaited moment for the James family has arrived. LeBron James and his son Bronny just came off the bench together to make their father-son debut on an NBA court in a regular-season game.

Lakers rookie and former Tennessee star Dalton Knecht got his NBA career off to a strong start. He curled off a screen and pulled up to drill a 3-pointer from the top of the key on his first NBA field-goal attempt.

The Lakers have opened the second quarter with a 12-4 run to take a 34-27 lead. The Timberwolves called timeout in an effort to stop the bleeding.

Minnesota ends the quarter on an 11-4 run to take the first lead as the first quarter ends. Anthony Edwards leads all scorers with eight points.

One thing JJ Redick has spoken about improving with the Lakers is an emphasis on offensive rebounding, where they ranked last in the NBA last season. Early returns on that are solid, with four boards on 13 misses despite elite defensive rebounder Rudy Gobert being on the other team.

The Lakers might not have made many personnel changes over the offseason, but LeBron James still looking like LeBron James is nice. The Timberwolves offense still looks like a work in progress after trading Karl-Anthony Towns for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo, with as many turnovers as baskets.

Bronny James checking in and becoming the younger half of the NBA's first on-court father-son pair is being treated as an eventuality. Two of the few people who can relate are in attendance.

The new $110 million man wins the tip and we're off at Crypto.com Arena.

We're a few minutes from the Timberwolves and Lakers tipping off. That didn't stop Minnesota center Rudy Gobert from being reported to have landed a $110 million extension. No time is safe from NBA news.

That's a wrap on a dominant opening night for the Boston Celtics. The Celtics cruised to a 132-109 in over the New York Knicks in their first game since winning last season's NBA championship.

They tied the NBA record for 3-pointers with their 29th early in the fourth quarter. But they fell short of claiming it as their own, missing their last 13 3-point attempts after clearing the bench in the blowout. No matter. It was a night to celebrate in Boston.

The Celtics didn't exactly give Karl-Anthony Towns the warmest welcome to the Knicks.

Assuming his night is done, as Boston holds a 30-point lead in the fourth quarter, Towns finished his debut for the Knicks with 12 points (5-9 FG, 1-2 3P), seven rebounds and three assists in 24 minutes.

The offense often looked discombobulated with Towns in the mix. He found himself out of position and in the way of the action on multiple occasions, not providing the space that his shoot ability should provide.

Defensively, it was worse. About as bad as the Knicks could have imagined. The Celtics scored 166 points per 100 possessions through the first three quarters, closing in on an NBA record for successful 3-pointers. The Knicks have been out-rebounded, though that may be because the Celtics rarely missed.

Al Horford just hit a 3 for Boston's 29th of the night, tying the all-time record for 3-pointers in an NBA game. There's 8:35 remaining on the clock.

Sam Hauser and Jaylen Brown each hit 3-pointers to open the fourth quarter, and the Celtics are up to 28, one away from tying the single-game NBA record.

The Celtics are keeping their foot on the gas and carry a 113-87 lead into the fourth quarter. The only question remaining is whether they'll break the single game 3-point record.

It appears likely. They have 26 through three quarters. The record is 29 by the Milwaukee Bucks in 2020.

The Celtics are up to 24 made 3-pointers midway through the third quarter. The record for a single game is 29 by the Milwaukee Bucks in 2020.

Here's Jrue Holiday with No. 20:

While Boston's Jayson Tatum dispelled of the notion that his shot was broken within minutes of opening tip, shooting 6-of-9 from 3 in Tuesday's first half, Knicks counterpart Mikal Bridges cannot say the same.

Bridges missed all five his shot attempts in the opening half, including four 3-point attempts. He did not make his first shot until a smoother-looking corner 3-pointer in the opening minutes of the third quarter.

His shot clearly looks different, and he told reporters last week that he indeed changed his mechanics.

“When I came out of college, I kind of tweaked it a little bit," he said. "Then my second year in the league, I had the hitch, and tried to build back from that ever since. So just trying to get it right. Pretty much it.”

The hitch is back. Bridges shot 2-for-19 from deep in the preseason. So why Bridges did feel the need to change his jumper. He is a career 37.5% 3-point shooter and shot 37.2% on 7.2 tries a game last season.

Jaylen Brown opens the second half with a 3, and the Celtics are off to the races.

Celtics 74, Knicks 55

Celtics shooting: 27 of 49 (55.1%)
Knicks shooting: 22 of 38 (57.9%)

Celtics 3-point shooting: 17 of 32 (53.1%)
Knicks 3-point shooting: 4 of 14 (28.6%)

Jayson Tatum: 25 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds; 9 of 12 from the field, 6 of 9 from 3
Jaylen Brown (12 points), Derrick White (11) Jrue Holiday (10) all in double figures

Jalen Brunson: 15 points, 2 assists; 6 of 7 from the field, 1 of 2 from 3
Karl-Anthony Towns: 12 points, 5 rebounds
Mikal Bridges: 0 points, 0 rebounds, 2 assists; 0 for 5 from the field, 0 for 4 from 3

The Celtics have been on fire from inside and out with no signs of a championship hangover midway through their season opener. They lead the Knicks, 74-55 at halftime after receiving their championship rings in a pregame ceremony.

The Celtics are doing it on both ends of the floor. Here's Jaylen Brown picking Jalen Brunson's pocket for an easy dunk on the other end.

A Knicks reserve is doing his best to keep New York in this. Miles McBride is 6 for 6 from the field to lead New York with 14 points. But Boston leads, 54-35 midway through the second quarter.

Jalen Brunson has 6 points and has made all three of his field goal attempts, but hasn't scored since early in the first quarter. Miles Bridges is 0 for 5 from the field including 0 for 4 from 3-point distance so far in his Knicks debut. Karl-Anthony Towns has 6 points and 4 rebounds.

Here's a look at all 10 made 3s by the Celtics in the first quarter.

There was some concern about Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum's jump shot over the summer. He shot 28.3% from 3-point range in the playoffs. He missed every jumper he took at the Olympics and sat for two of Team USA's six games in Paris, leading many observers to believe his shot had something to do with it.

Asked about his errant jumper at media day, Tatum conceded that he had made some slight adjustments to his mechanics, though he explained that these kinds of minor tweaks are common practice for him.

“Been working with my trainer a lot recently in the last few weeks,” he said last month. “A few mechanical things — pick-up points, hand placement, getting lower, keeping my shoulders forward and things like that. ... There were some things I could have fixed, but in the midst of the playoffs, trying to manage your rest, it’s a little tougher. I was still playing well. I just wasn’t shooting the ball as well as I would have liked. And, obviously, we were winning, so it wasn’t the time or the place to try to fix things in that moment.”

If we learned anything in the opening minutes of Boston's first game, it was that Tatum's shot is far from broken (if it ever was). He attempted six 3s in the opening quarter and made four of them, staking the Celtics to a 43-24 lead in the opening frame. This after he shot 41.4% from distance in the preseason.

After taking a 21-16 lead into the second timeout of the game, the Celtics have taken over. Boston ran off a 22-8 run to close the first quarter and enter the second with a 43-24 lead. They're 16 of 27 from the field and 10 of 17 from 3.

They've picked up right where they left off from last season's championship run with a first-quarter gut punch to a Knicks team playing with a revamped lineup.

The new-look Knicks have countered with a strong start of their own. They're 8 of 13 from the field early including six points from Jalen Brunson, who's hit all three of his shots from the field. Karl-Anthony Towns in on the board with his first bucket as a Knick.

There's no ring ceremony hangover in Boston. The Celtics are off to a hot start with a 21-16 lead at the 4:51 mark of the first quarter. They're 8 of 17 from the field including a 4-of-9 pace from 3. Looks a lot like last season so far.

Jayson Tatum opens the game with a 3-pointer, and the new NBA season is underway.

And here's Boston's 18th championship banner:

Here's the much anticipated new-look Knicks starting lineup:

Jalen Brunson
Josh Hart
OG Anunoby
Mikal Bridges
Karl-Anthony Towns

Jayson Tatum kept his comments brief when given the mic to address fans during the ring ceremony.

"This is special, Tatum said. ... "I can honestly say to the best fans in the world. Let's do it again."

The business of raising the banner — and then basketball — was at hand.

Jaylen Brown is the reigning Finals MVP, but Jayson Tatum got the final call to the floor to receive his ring after Brown.

Specs on Boston's rings that include lots of jewels and some hidden treasures:

The rings have been revealed, and they — of course — are spectacular.

The Celtics are on the floor at TD Garden to raise their 18th championship banner and receive their rings. Past Celtics champions including Bob Cousy, Cedric Maxwell, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce are joining them on the floor to celebrate.

Happy opening day, NBA fans! We're tipping off the season tonight with the New York Knicks visiting the reigning champion Boston Celtics. The starting lineup for the Celtics is in:

Jrue Holiday
Derrick White
Jaylen Brown
Jayson Tatum
Al Horford