Kevin C. Cox/Getty ImagesDoc Rivers and Kevin Garnett are amped for the start of the new season.

Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers is going to have more trouble sleeping on Christmas Eve than most kids in Boston. And while he fully acknowledges disappointment in the fact that he'll wake up in a New York City hotel room feeling a bit like Kevin McCallister without his family, that pain will be diminished ever so slightly by the gift waiting for him: the return of honest-to-goodness NBA basketball games.

"It's great, it really is," Rivers said as a season that nearly wasn't finally nears tip off. The Celtics and New York Knicks meet in the first of five Christmas Day games, ushering in the official start of the 2011-12 season on the grand stage of Madison Square Garden.

"It's been a long time coming, as far as I'm concerned," said Rivers. "The fact that it's Christmas and we're talking about our first game of the year, that's amazing to me. Even though this training camp was short and we played only two preseason games, at the end of the day, it's time to play. And I think everybody is ready to play. I am as eager as I've ever been as a coach and I don't do anything, I just sit on the sideline. But you feel that, and I know the players feel that."

There's been a few grumbles in the Celtics' locker room about playing on Christmas (no different than in years past), but Rivers has constantly reminded his team that 1) It's just good to be playing basketball again, and 2) Playing on Christmas Day is a bit of a tip of the cap from the league.

"We're all fortunate, man," said Kevin Garnett. "You playing on Christmas, it says you're one of the best, or the league considers you one of the best. Either that or you're one of the most entertaining. I like to think we're either one. ...

"I haven't celebrated a lot of Christmases, but being at Madison Square Garden on Christmas is pretty exciting, so I'm embracing it."