The Celtics and the Knicks took the court for the opening game of the NBA season Tuesday night, a clash that New York point guard Jalen Brunson said earlier in the day was a fair barometer -- despite being the first game -- for where the new-look Knicks stand against the defending champions.

In August, Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens sat in the lobby of a Paris hotel as he prepared to go watch three of his players compete in the Olympics. Even though his team won an NBA title less than two months earlier, his focus had squarely shifted to the future, to trying to do it all again.