In a thrilling effort, the Boston Celtics defeated the New York Knicks in their season opener on Wednesday, 108-104.

Jayson Tatum led the team in scoring with a team-high 34 points on 13/22 shooting. While Tatum’s scoring was certainly a factor, the story of the night comes from Kristaps Porzingis.

Porzingis ended his first game wearing the Celtic green and scored 30 points on 8/15 shooting while also adding 4 blocks. He scored 15 of his points in the first quarter and fit the team like a glove, and was the key contributor in fueling the team’s late game comeback.

The Celtics led by as many as 11 points in the middle of the 3rd quarter before the Knicks opened the fourth quarter with a 13-2 run that put them up 86-84. The Knicks hit back-to-back three pointers later in the fourth that cushioned their lead to 99-93 with 4:10 left in the game.

Boston fought back and tied the game at 101 apiece with 2:03 left. Arguably the biggest shot of the night came from Porzingis in which he drilled a deep three pointer to put the Celtics up 104-101 with 1:29 left. The Knicks could not capitalize with R.J. Barrett and Immanuel Quickley missing three pointers in their next two possessions.

Closing the game on a 15-5 run the Celtics fought back and grabbed their first win of the season. Porzingis spoke postgame on his first game wearing the green and what the team has ahead of them.

“It’s an awesome feeling to come back now being a Celtic and play here,” Porzingis said. “Even getting booed it’s still cool. Most importantly we won the game and I’m very excited about what we have ahead of us. And I wish the Knicks, the city and the organization nothing but the best.”

Up next they face the Miami Heat for their home opener on Friday at 7:30pm.