BOSTON — The New York Knicks have discovered that defending an NBA championship is considerably more difficult than winning one.
For one thing, everybody keeps trying to take it away from you.
For another, you have to show up and play basketball.
The defending world champions arrived in Boston Friday night looking for their first victory of the season. They departed with their second defeat, a 107-103 lesson administered by the Celtics and a gentleman named Jayson Tatum, who apparently missed the memo that New York was supposed to be building a dynasty.
The Knicks are now 0-2.
Starting a season with two consecutive losses is not the recommended procedure for winning back-to-back championships. It's rather like beginning your honeymoon with divorce proceedings.
Perhaps the Knicks were exhausted from Thursday's cybersecurity training classes.
It would explain a great deal.
They certainly had trouble protecting the basketball. They committed 16 turnovers, six more than Boston. Their defense had several security breaches, and when the Celtics launched their final attack, New York's firewall collapsed altogether.
Someone should have reminded the Knicks that the first rule of cybersecurity is never give the opposition unrestricted access.
Tatum apparently had administrator privileges.
He scored 36 points, 25 in the second half, and seven of Boston's final eight. He also collected nine rebounds and seven assists, turning TD Garden into his private computer network.
The Knicks tried everything to stop him except changing the password.
With the game hanging in the balance, Tatum scored three consecutive baskets, including a three-pointer that effectively settled the evening. He operated with the confidence of a man who had read the Knicks' defensive playbook and found it contained mostly blank pages.
The Celtics had led by as many as 12 points in the fourth quarter, but New York staged a spirited comeback.
That was encouraging.
Unfortunately, basketball games are not graded on effort.
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. OG Anunoby contributed 20 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. Miles McBride supplied another 20, hitting six of eight three-point attempts.
McBride was shooting like a man trying to put out a forest fire with a garden hose.
Jalen Brunson scored 19, but the Knicks' usually dependable floor general still hasn't quite found the championship rhythm that made him the toast of Manhattan last spring.
And then there was Mikal Bridges.
Bridges scored exactly zero points.
Not one.
He missed all eight of his field-goal attempts, including five from beyond the arc. In two games this season, Bridges has made just two of 16 shots.
This is an alarming development for a fellow whose principal responsibility includes putting the basketball through the hoop.
A zero in the scoring column is acceptable if you're an accountant reconciling a bank statement. It's less desirable when you're a starting forward for the defending NBA champions.
Bridges wasn't having an off night. He was having an out-of-office reply.
Boston, meanwhile, got contributions from Paul George and Neemias Queta, who scored 15 points apiece.
And then there was Mitchell Robinson.
The former Knick, who helped New York win its championship last season, now wears Boston green. He contributed only four points and four rebounds, but those numbers don't adequately describe the indignity of watching him block a Towns layup and subsequently finish an alley-oop at the other end.
Robinson spent eight seasons in New York protecting the basket.
Friday night, he was protecting it from the Knicks.
There ought to be a law against that sort of thing.
The game itself was close enough to make the defeat particularly irritating. There were 12 lead changes and four ties. Boston held a slender 50-49 advantage at halftime before outscoring New York 33-24 in the third quarter.
That was where the Knicks lost control of the evening.
The Celtics built a double-digit lead, and New York spent most of the fourth quarter trying to recover its misplaced dignity.
The Knicks eventually pulled within a single point at 99-98 on a Brunson floater.
For a fleeting moment, it appeared the defending champions might escape Boston with something besides another entry in the loss column.
Tatum promptly hit a jumper.
Then another.
Then a three-pointer.
That was the end of the comeback, the evening and, presumably, any lingering optimism that the Knicks could survive indefinitely on the momentum of last June.
The most disturbing thing about New York's 0-2 start isn't the record.
It's the familiarity of the defeats.
Against Philadelphia on opening night, the Knicks led at halftime and collapsed in the third quarter.
Against Boston, the Knicks trailed by one at halftime and collapsed in the third quarter.
Two games. Two Eastern Conference rivals. Two third-quarter failures.
One begins to detect a pattern.
Coach Mike Brown has 80 games remaining to make the necessary adjustments. There is no reason to declare the championship defense dead after two contests. NBA seasons are marathons, not sprints.
But even marathon runners are expected to leave the starting line.
The Knicks are the first defending NBA champions to begin a season 0-2 since the Dallas Mavericks in 2011.
That particular Dallas team did not repeat.
New York would be well advised not to follow the entire script.
The Knicks return to Madison Square Garden on Sunday to face Orlando, where they will attempt to accomplish something that has so far eluded the reigning champions of professional basketball.
Win a game.
Perhaps their cybersecurity training will finally pay dividends.
They might start by installing a stronger defense, restricting unauthorized access to the paint and recovering the basketball before somebody steals it.
And if Mikal Bridges can remember his shooting credentials, that would help considerably.
The championship banner hanging in Madison Square Garden is proof that these Knicks know how to win.
Their first two games are proof that knowing how and actually doing it are entirely different occupations.
The Knicks spent 53 years trying to win another championship.
They've spent four days making the next one look considerably farther away.
And unless somebody gets this operation secured, the only thing New York may successfully defend this season is its reputation for disappointment.
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