Champs set high mark for Warriors to match, former guard makes uninspiring team debut

Head coach Steve Kerr has repeatedly stated his desire for the Golden State Warriors to be a high-volume three-point shooting team, and that came to frutition during the preseason despite little impact from Stephen Curry.

But if the Warriors want to lead the league in three-point attempts this season, they're likely to have their work cut out matching the reigning champion Boston Celtics. Celebrating ring night in the league's season opener on Tuesday, the Celtics obliterated the New York Knicks with a barrage of threes to light up TD Garden.

The Celtics set a high three-point mark for the Warriors to try and match

Jayson Tatum led the way for the hosts with 37 points on 8-of-11 shooting as Boston tied a league record with 29 threes in their 132-109 victory. The Celtics look destined to break the Milwaukee Bucks record set in 2020, yet they missed their last 13 three-point attempts over the last nine minutes of the game.

Boston finished shooting 29-of-61 (47.1%) from three-point range, with every starter connecting on at least three attempts from beyond the arc. The Celtics led the league in three-point attempts during the preseason at 52.6, while the Warriors were eighth at 42.3 attempts. Golden State are expected to rank higher in the regular season after Curry was limited to just 73 total preseason minutes where he shot only 28% from three-point range.

In the league's second game on opening night, former Golden State guard Donte DiVincenzo made his team debut for the Minnesota Timberwolves in a 110-103 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena.

DiVincenzo played 31 minutes off the bench, but went scoreless in the first-half as the Lakers built a double-digit lead. The 27-year-old made two threes and had 10 points in the second-half, yet a monster 36-point, 16-rebound performance from Laker star Anthony Davis proved too much for the Timberwolves to overcome.

After being involved in the blockbuster trade that sent he and Julius Randle from the New York Knicks to Minnesota in exchange for Karl-Anthony Towns, DiVincenzo had 10 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals in his debut on 3-of-11 shooting from the floor, 2-of-8 from three-point range, and 2-of-4 from the free-throw line.

The league will kick in to full swing on Wednesday with a 10-game slate, including the Warriors season opener against the Portland Trail Blazers at Moda Center starting at 7PM PT.