Wednesday night the Boston Celtics started off their season with a 108-104 win over the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden behind Kristaps Porzingis’ 30 points.

My first impressions are simple: Celtics have the same issues as last year.

Sure, the Celtics now have Jrue Holiday and Porzingis added to the roster which has shown to make a difference on defense. Porzingis was used as the rim protector in replacement of Robert Williams III. Jrue Holiday was the floor general, only put up nine points, but still played decent help defense. But as far as the problems, they seem still to be there from last season.

The Celtics jumped out to a big lead scoring 30 points in the first quarter thanks to the hot shooting. Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla clearly still wants his team to shoot a lot of deep 3s. However, the Knicks fought back and ended up taking the lead with a little over eight minutes left in the game.

Porzingis made some clutch free throws to put the game away. Jayson Tatum scored 34 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Jaylen Brown only had 11 points. Just like last season, if Tatum and Brown don’t both have a good game then the C’s are in trouble, which still held true. Now they have a guy who can score over 20 points in Kristaps, but it still showed to play a factor when one of the duo struggles.

Defensively, the C’s have the same issues. Al Horford held his own, but he’s clearly a step behind and will be used in certain spots of the game. When teams get on runs, Mazzulla let’s it happen to see how the C’s players react. Celtics gave up a lot of points in transition, including open three’s. Brown and other players get in a lull on defense, allowing off-ball shooters to score.

Hopefully Jrue Holiday changes the defensive mindset that was shown Wednesday. Also, adding Sam Cassell and Rajon Rondo to help will hopefully give Boston some toughness.

On the bright side, the Celtics did show that they have more depth. Payton Pritchard showed that he can be a reliable source. Derrick White only had 12 points in 32 minutes, but played well within the system. Jayson Tatum looked healthy, stronger, and more poised. Jaylen Brown had good sparks on the perimeter as a defender, but needs more consistency.

All in all, it looks like the Celtics have found their identity in their first game: Shoot 3s, make key stops, and everyone help on rebounding.