NEW YORK — When the Celtics’ new roster was finalized this offseason, rebounding stood out as an obvious area of concern.

With no Jayson Tatum to start the season and primary big men Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford and Luke Kornet playing elsewhere, Boston looked like a team that would struggle on the glass.

So far, Joe Mazzulla’s squad has done exactly that, posting the NBA’s second-worst defensive rebounding rate and third-worst total rebounding rate through two games.

Those struggles were especially acute in Friday night’s 105-95 loss to the Knicks, which featured the Celtics’ worst performance on the defensive boards in recent memory. Boston gathered rebounds on just 58.0% of New York’s misses, its lowest mark in any game since 2020. The Knicks’ 21 offensive rebounds — including six

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