NBA champion Celtics prepare for banner night and opener against rival New York Knicks

Boston Celtics are giving mselves one more chance to celebrate ir latest NBA championship before y turn ir attention to a repeat.

league’s most decorated franchise will raise its 18th banner to TD Garden rafters Tuesday night before season opener against New York Knicks. Players will also receive ir championship rings in pregame ceremony.

“This is a great accomplishment, that we get to do this. Be one hell of a night,” guard Payton Pritchard said after practice Monday. “But n again, we talked about we’ve got to do it again. We’ve got to reset that focus.

“We get rings, and n we want to go out and prove that we’re rey to make ar statement.”

Celtics cruised through NBA regular season last year — finishing with best record in Eastern Conference by 14 games — and n went 16-3 in playoffs. Led by Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, y are bringing back ir entire starting lineup and most of ir bench, and are favorites to win it all again.

Coach Joe Mazzulla has said he doesn’t feel any pressure to repeat.

“We’re all going to be de soon, and it really doesn’t matter anymore. So re’s zero pressure," he said. "You have an opportunity to carry organization forward, to double down on trition and history of what this organization has. And what else would you expect than someone expecting you to win all time?

"It’s t pressure,” he told reporters at team's practice facility. "re’s thing anyone in this circle can do to me that’s gonna impact my identity and who I am as a person or a coach. We’re eir gonna win or we’re t, and 40 years from w, ne of you are invited to my funeral and that’s it.”

Celtics won 16 NBA titles from 1957-86, with Bill Russell claiming 11 in 13 years. 1970s teams of Dave Cowens and John Havlicek won a pair, and Big Three of Larry Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale won three more in 1980s.

When Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen won it all in 2008, y ended franchise’s longest-ever title drought. y me it back to NBA Finals two years later, but lost to Lakers. ( period from 2008-24 was second-longest drought.)

Pritchard said that to be considered among Celtics greats y will need to win ar.

“A lot of people can do it once," Pritchard said. “I kw a championship’s hard, but re’s a lot of people who have won one. But winning it multiple times, creating almost like a dynasty, that’s hard to do. So that’s greatness, and that’s something we’re trying to achieve.”

quest begins against Knicks, who have positioned mselves as Boston’s top competition in East after acquiring Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges over summer.

Mazzulla said he thinks his team will be rey.

“I trust who y are. I think y have an understanding of both ‘This is what we accomplished’ and ‘This is what we’re trying to do’” coach said. “All intangibles that go into winning should carry over from one season to ar season."

“You have to appreciate it," he said. "But you’ve got to kw what got you re and if you forget what got you re, you’ll never get back.”