The Celtics’ quest to hoisting up a second straight Larry O’Brien Trophy begins tonight at 7:30 p.m. against the New York Knicks in TD Garden.

The Celtics will defend their home court against the Knicks. Mitchell Robinson will be out for New York with an ankle injury. Precious Achiuwa will miss tonights game too. Nonetheless, Karl Anthony-Towns, Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart will be suited up. Here’s four things to keep an eye out for in the first game of the season.

How will Celtics play without Kristaps Porzingis?

The Celtics will be without Porzingis for a couple games (left posterior tibialis tendon surgery rehabilitation). The seven footer proved to be the tipping point for the Celtics last year in making them nearly unbeatable. However, injuries have always hurt the former Wizard player and it seems like it will continue. In this past playoffs, the Celtics were still effective with Al Horford and Luke Kornet. But being that Horford is 38-years-old now, it will be interesting to see if he still has the same effectiveness on the court. My guess is he will, but it’s something to keep an eye out on how the Celtics will defend the paint.

Is there still unselfishness or more ego?

Being that Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, and Jayson Tatum each came back to the team with new Olympic Medals from over the summer, it’s easy for the reigning NBA Champions to get their head too big. Derrick White played at an all-star level last year and has gotten paid just like it now. Jrue Holiday signed on to be with the Celtics for longer. Jaylen Brown I believe will play with a chip on his shoulder for not being selected to Team USA. Jayson Tatum didn’t play much on Team USA. There’s a lot of individual storylines going on and it may be easy for the Celtics to get caught up in it.

Who’ll make a big impact of the bench?

I was a bit surprised to see the Celtics cut Lonnie Walker IV right before the regular season began because there wasn’t much depth on the Celtics bench to begin with. When they’re fully healthy the Celtics don’t need a good bench at all, but they aren’t always healthy when it comes to Porzingis. Therefore, Payton Pritchard will likely be the sixth man of the bench and have a chance to step into a bigger role this season. Jordan Walsh, who the Celtics drafted last year, may also see more playing time. Keep an eye out for Xavier Tillman Sr., he played key minutes in the playoffs and showed grit. Tillman was the spark for the Celtics off the bench at times and had good stretches of defending the paint well.

Is this the future Eastern Conference Finals matchup?

There’s not question that if the Knicks weren’t depleted with injuries last year, they would’ve had a good chance of getting past the Indiana Pacers. Now that it’s a new season and the Knicks appear to have some good depth, they are legitimate threats to see the Celtics in the ECF. This game will tell a lot, if the departure of Donte Divincenzo and Julius Randle hurts them, or does having KAT do wonders for them. We’ll see.