In the arena where he used to be the most beloved player, Kristaps Porzingis shined. He helped lead his Boston Celtics to a close win over the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden, 108-104.

Porzingis has gotten booed relentlessly since requesting a trade from the Knicks, who he last played for in 2018. Now that he's with one of the team's biggest rivals, the intensity of the boos and heckles will only grow. After wrestling for a rebound with Isaiah Hartenstein and hitting him in the face, Knicks fans chanted “F**k Porzingis!” as the refs reviewed the play. None of it slowed him down.

On both ends of the court in his Celtics debut, Porzingis played great. He scored 30 points on 8-15 shooting with eight boards and four blocks. Late in the game, he went on a personal 7-0 run to put Boston ahead and hit a pair of free throws to bump the lead from two points to four with 29.0 seconds left. His ability to space the floor from deep and vertically while protecting the rim makes Boston a much more dangerous team.

Kristaps Porzingis loved the chants and playing in the energetic environment of MSG, according to Tim Bontemps of ESPN.

“The crowd chanting that for me, it was fun,” Porzingis said, via ESPN. “I was just enjoying that and kind of using that as motivation, motivation to make some big plays at the end. It was really, really fun to play in that type of environment.”

Even after becoming one of the most hated players in New York following his departure, Porzingis continues to speak highly about the Knicks and their fans. Following stops with the Dallas Mavericks and Washington Wizards, Porzingis will see the Knicks three more times now that he's back in their division. His next game back in MSG will be on February 24.

The Celtics have higher hopes after landing Porzingis and Jrue Holiday, who had a fine game himself with some staunch defense that included three blocks of his own. Jayson Tatum scored 34 points and notched 11 rebounds. The Boston crowd will see Porzingis' home debut on Friday against the Miami Heat.