The Boston Celtics dropped their second consecutive game to start the season at the hands of the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden Friday night, losing 105-95.

In a rematch of last season’s Conference Semifinals, the Celtics got out to an 8-point lead at the end of the opening quarter—appearing to look stout defensively—but it was essentially all Knicks for the rest of the night. New York proceeded to outscore Boston by a whopping, football-reminiscent 42-14 margin in the second quarter, taking a 64-44 lead to the locker room. The Knicks were then able to maintain a double-digit advantage for the second half (game statistics courtesy of NBA.com).

Although there were points of the contest where Boston looked as if they were going to gain significant ground on the deficit based on 20 turnovers by the Knicks, New York would turn around and make a big shot on the other end. Both Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns showcased their usual level of production, chipping in 31 and 26 points, respectively.

Derrick White struggled for Boston, finishing with 15 points and shooting just 5-18 from the floor, and 3-11 from three-point range. Payton Pritchard also had an off night, posting just 8 points on 1-7 shooting from beyond the arc. Jaylen Brown led all Boston scorers, adding 23 points, yet he committed 7 of the Celtics’ 16 turnovers.

The biggest bright spot of the night for Boston was likely the contributions from 19-year-old rookie Hugo Gonzalez. Although Gonzalez wasn’t exactly noticeable on the stat sheet (6 points and 4 rebounds), his impact was felt on both ends of the floor. He was an energetic spark and showed both quickness and the ability to be an above-average on-ball defender with his basketball IQ. It’s probable that Gonzalez earned additional trust from Joe Mazzulla with his performance for more on-court minutes moving forward.

A glaring issue for Boston in the early going of the regular season has been its ability to prove it can defend at the rim and secure defensive rebounds. As Mazzulla continues to tinker with his lineups and rotations to generate the best fit with this group, there will be an emphasis on both effort and consistency in order for some of his players to stay on the floor.

The Celtics continue their first road trip of the season on Sunday afternoon when they travel to Detroit to face off against the resilient, up-and-coming Pistons. Tip-off is at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Boston.