The title defense begins tonight in Boston.

THE LINEUP 🏀

Oct. 22, 2024 | What’s inside today’s edition?

The Defense Begins: Boston will celebrate its title before beginning a new banner quest

L.A. Premiere: The Lakers host the Wolves as they play in their sixth straight Opening Night

Raising 18: Before a new championship chase begins, get an inside look at Boston’s title run

Dunk Score: Player tracking and NBA data science analyze every dunk from every game

Power Rankings: How the teams stack up before the season tips off tonight

BUT FIRST… ⏰

Opening Night is just hours away…

It’s been 127 days since the confetti fell to the TD Garden floor as the Boston Celtics celebrated winning the 2024 NBA championship.

Tonight, the Celtics will raise banner 18, collect their championship rings and begin their quest to repeat against the Knicks to open the 2024-25 season (7:30 ET, TNT). That’s followed by a Western Conference clash between the Wolves and Lakers in L.A. (10 ET, TNT).

1. ONE LAST CELEBRATION BEFORE THE PURSUIT OF 19

For years, 17 championship banners hung in the rafters of TD Garden, but 18 hung in the Celtics’ practice facility.

The 18th one was blank, providing a daily reminder of the standard by which the franchise measures success. A reminder of what the practice sessions, workouts and film studies were all about – being the team to fill in banner 18.

After years of disappointment – including four losses in the East Finals and one in the 2022 Finals in the span of eight seasons – the 2023-24 Celtics were able to finish the job.

Tonight, before they try to become the first team to successfully defend the title since the Golden State Warriors (2017, 2018), they will commemorate their 2023-24 title by raising banner 18 to the rafters and collecting their championship rings.

Once the ceremony is complete, it will be time to get back to business, as the Celtics host the Knicks in the opening game of the 2024-25 NBA season (7:30 ET, TNT).

• Two summers ago, a roster shake up was needed to take the Celtics to championship heights with the additions of Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis ahead of the 2023-24 season
• This summer was a different story, as the Celtics retained their entire core from the championship team, looking to run it back with visions of banner 19 in their eyes
• However, they will be without Porzingis to open the season as he recovers from offseason surgery to repair a rare leg injury

Meanwhile, the Knicks are coming off back-to-back Playoff exits in the East Semifinals and – similar to the Celtics two summers ago – used this offseason to revamp its roster with two significant additions.

• Early in free agency, the Knicks struck a deal with the Nets to send Mikal Bridges over the bridge from Brooklyn to Manhattan, reuniting the former Villanova Wildcat with some of his college teammates
• Then just before training camp (in similar timing to when the Celtics added Holiday), the Knicks acquired four-time All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns from Minnesota

The moves were bold and the Knicks are banking on them paying off as they look to build on last year’s No. 2 seed finish in the East (14 games behind Boston) and a deeper Playoff run. They couldn’t ask for a better first test than the defending champs to open the season.

2. WOLVES, LAKERS OPEN SEASON WITH HIGH HOPES

Last season, both Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves made enormous leaps – bounding over opponents both on the court (see Section 4 ⬇️) and in the standings.

• Edwards went from All-Star to All-NBA Second Team in 2023-24, combining elite play with an electricity and flair that few can match
• Minnesota went from 42 to 56 wins – their 14-win improvement the third-largest in the league – and reached the West Finals to match the deepest Playoff run in franchise history
• As the Wolves open the 2024-25 season tonight against the Lakers (10 ET, TNT), they look to take their next leap and challenge for the team’s first-ever NBA Finals berth. With Karl-Anthony Towns traded to New York, all eyes will be on Edwards to lead the way

For the first time in four years, the Los Angeles Lakers enter a season with the second-most championships in NBA history – as Boston’s 18th title broke the tie with L.A. after the Lakers had evened the banner race at 17 apiece with their 2020 title.

• Since then, the Lakers have had two first round exits (2021, 2024) and one Western Conference Finals appearance (2023), with their last two postseasons beginning in the SoFi Play-In Tournament
• As he begins his 22nd NBA season – trying Vince Carter for the most in NBA history – can LeBron James lead the Lakers on another deep Playoff run at the back end of his career?
• In a career packed with historic achievements, LeBron and his son Bronny (L.A.’s second-round pick) will become the first father-son duo to share the court in an NBA game this season. Will that moment come during tonight’s opener?

3. RAISING 18: RELIVE BOSTON’S TITLE RUN AHEAD OF RING NIGHT

Every championship story is unique, told through the lens of the players, coaches, organization and city they represent.

For the 2023-24 Boston Celtics, the road to hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy was littered with past disappointments and a determination to use those previous shortcomings as fuel to championship glory.

In ‘Raising 18’ – a nine-part docuseries chronicling Boston’s championship season – fans get a behind-the-scenes look at the ups and downs of the nine-month journey from training camp to champagne.

• Episode 1: Championship or Bust – With the stakes of the new season clear, go inside training camp with new addition Kristaps Porzingis, who dropped 30 points in his Boston debut
• Episode 2: Sacrifice and Reward – Look back at the rise of the cornerstone duo of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum and how a players only meeting in training camp set the tone that everyone must sacrifice for the betterment of the team
• Episode 3: Clicking – The Celtics are hitting on all cylinders as offseason additions Jrue Holiday and Porzingis fit in seamlessly, including Brown introducing KP to Atlanta’s best wings on a road trip

• Episode 4: Great Expectations – A throwback to Paul Pierce giving rookie Tatum a lesson in Celtics history and the pressure that comes with such a legendary past. And how some tough losses in the regular season added to that pressure
• Episode 5: Mindset – In his second season at the helm, coach Joe Mazzulla’s unique approach, intensity and connection with his players helps the team keep its foot on the gas down the stretch of the regular season
• Episode 6: Skip No Steps – The Playoffs open with a familiar nemesis – the Miami Heat. Adversity hits as a bad Game 2 loss and the loss of Porzingis in Game 3 tests Boston’s mettle and requires morefrom ‘Raising 18’ narrator Al Horford

• Episode 7: Stay Ready – After Boston’s role players rise up to fill the void left by KP against the Cavs, Jaylen Brown’s determination and leadership are on full display in Boston’s sweep of Indiana in the East Finals as Boston punches its ticket to the Finals
• Episode 8: The Return – Facing a Dallas team with two of the NBA’s best closers, Boston was briefly back at full strength with the triumphant return of Porzingis in a Game 1 win. In Game 2, it was Derrick White who showcased his All-Defensive Team status with a clutch chasedown block to put Boston up 2-0
• Episode 9: 18 Banners – A Game 3 win put Boston on the precipice of history only to be followed by a blowout loss on the road. How would the team handle adversity in the Finals? With Tatum and Finals MVP Brown leading the way to the title – finally reaching the goal they had set together years prior

4. INTRODUCING THE ‘DUNK SCORE’

A monster dunk can happen at any moment – sending the crowd into a frenzy and becoming a viral sensation racking up views, likes and shares across social media.

But those numbers don’t necessarily capture the greatness of the slam.

What if there was a way to analyze every dunk in every NBA game and find out which slam rises above the rest based on data rather than just the eye test?

Introducing the ‘Dunk Score’ from the NBA Stats team.

• The Anthony Edwards dunk above – which topped the NBA’s top 100 dunks list from last season – also generated the highest dunk score of the year at 124.4
• Edwards posted three of the top six dunk scores from 2023-24 and gets his first chance to post a Dunk Score in 2024-25 tonight when the Wolves visit the Lakers

Jalen Johnson dunk So, how does this work? How can every in-game dunk be broken down to an unbiased, singular score in real time?

It begins with player tracking data gathered from a computer vision-based system built by Hawkeye inside every NBA arena. The system computes a coordinate (x, y, z) for 29 body parts of every player, as well as the game ball, 60 times per second.

The NBA Stats team combines that data with innovative data science to analyze every dunk based on four subscores:

• Jump is all about the athlete’s verticality & explosiveness in the air
• Power captures the raw force of the dunk
• Style measures dunk flashiness, quantifying how much flair the player adds to their dunk
• Defensive Contest adds context by evaluating how much defensive pressure the dunker faced

Add those subscores together to get the overall Dunk Score for that specific slam. | Dive deeper into the data science behind the Dunk Score

Keep in mind, the Dunk Score is impartial – it does not take into consideration the status of the player performing the dunk, whether it’s a preseason game or Game 7 of the Finals, how much time is left or even the score of the game.

It just measures the dunk in its purest form based on the four subscores.

Like advanced stats helped basketball fans gather a fuller understanding of the game, the Dunk Score adds a scientific data-based evaluation of every slam to bring a better understanding to one of the most jaw-dropping plays in the game.

5. POWER RANKINGS ENTERING WEEK 1

On the eve of Opening Night, NBA.com’s John Schuhmann released his initial Power Rankings for the 2024-25 season.

The rankings will be updated every Monday throughout the season and we’ll keep you updated on the biggest rises and falls in the Starting 5.

Here’s a closer look at the top 10 ahead of the season’s opening tip.

1. Celtics: The 2023-24 champs open the season with a target on their back and the No. 1 spot in the rankings

2. Thunder: After becoming the youngest team to earn a No. 1 seed, OKC added a pair of veterans to help solidify its roster in hopes of a championship run

3. Knicks: New York had a busy offseason in adding Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns to a squad that earned the East’s No. 2 seed a year ago

4. Timberwolves: After trading one former No. 1 pick in Towns, the Wolves will look at another in Anthony Edwards to continue his ascent in season five

5. Nuggets: The 2022-23 champs have lost a few pieces from that title team, but with three-time MVP Nikola Jokić running the show, they remain contenders 

6. Suns: The second season of the Kevin Durant-Devin Booker-Bradley Beal trio begins with a new coach and a new point guard

7. Mavericks: Fresh off a trip to the Finals, Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving and Co. added a sharpshooter with championship experience in Klay Thompson

8. Sixers: A busy offseason saw Philly add nine-time All-Star Paul George to its core of Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. Sixers fans will need to wait for George’s debut, as both he and Embiid will be sidelined for Wednesday’s season-opener due to left knee injuries

9. Cavaliers: Cleveland resigned its core players in the offseason with eyes on a deeper Playoff run after exits in the first and second rounds, respectively, the past two years

10. Pacers: Indy ran its high-powered offense all the way to the East Finals last spring. They were a surprise last season, but now the league will see them coming

This top 10 could look very different not only week to week but by the end of the season.

NBA.com’s Shaun Powell breaks down 10 clues that could make for a truly unpredictable 2024-25 season.