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NEW YORK -- Boston Celtics reserve guard Jordan Crawford instigated a postgame flare-up by jawing at New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony after Boston's Game 5 triumph over New York on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.

Crawford could be seen shouting at Anthony as the two teams crossed paths on their way off the floor following Boston's 92-86 win in an Eastern Conference first-round series. Celtics reserve D.J. White initially stepped in to move Crawford along, but tempers flared when Raymond Felton approached in defense of his teammate. Players, coaches and security from both sides stepped in to defuse the situation.

For his part, Anthony said, "I'm not thinking about no Jordan Crawford. Not at this point in time, I'll tell you that. I don't think he deserves for you to be typing [his name] right now."

Anthony had a much-publicized postgame run-in with Kevin Garnett during a regular-season game here in January. Crawford could have stoked that fire with his postgame comments.

Neither Crawford nor White cared to elaborate on the matter, but Terrence Williams, who tried to play peacemaker by bearhugging an angered Felton, downplayed the situation.

"If you watch the replay, I was just the guy to try to separate the teams, I don't know what happened," Williams said. "I was talking to [assistant coach Ty Lue], then I just turned around to see guys pushing and I don't know. I don't know how that started. The good thing is no punches and all that. And we'll see them on Friday."

Celtics coach Doc Rivers said he didn't see what happened, but wasn't thrilled with it, either (though it did afford him the chance to playfully jab former Knicks teammate -- and occasional pugilist -- John Starks).

"I wasn't happy with it," Rivers said. "[Knicks coach Mike Woodson] wasn't happy with it. Let's play basketball. Let's play real physical basketball and let's walk off the floor. I don't know what happened. I'm glad Starks wasn't there."

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BOSTON -- Brandon Bass fouled out with 4:27 to play in regulation and missed much of the late-game fun. But don't let that diminish his contributions to Boston's riveting 97-90 overtime triumph over the New York Knicks in Game 4 of an Eastern Conference first-round series Sunday at TD Garden.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers shuffled Bass back into the starting lineup Sunday and tasked him with the thankless chore of guarding Carmelo Anthony. While foul trouble limited him to 30 minutes 39 seconds of floor time, Bass did all he could to pester Anthony while on the court.

Anthony finished with a game-high 36 points, but needed 35 shots to get there (missing 25 of them). With Bass at the helm, Boston limited Anthony to 3-of-15 shooting for 16 points in the first half while opening as much as a 19-point lead.

Bass might have missed the final nine minutes as the the Knicks rallied ahead and Boston fought back to win in the extra session, but his teammates showered him with praise for his efforts against Anthony.

"Brandon was the star of the game, as far as I’m concerned," Rivers said. "He just defended and did it over and over and over again. There’s a lot of guys that you want to defend; I don’t know if Carmelo would be the one you would pick. And for Brandon to do that, basically the entire game until he fouled out, was terrific for us. We needed that one guy to be able to do that."

Bass treats his defensive strategy against Anthony like classified information, often smiling and saying he can't reveal his secrets. It's not really a secret; Bass just tries hard to stay in front of Anthony and uses his combination of size and athleticism to make things as difficult as possible.

“I tried to make him work," the soft-spoken Bass said. "It led to us getting the win."

Bass' defensive efforts have floated below the radar this season. According to Synergy Sports data, Bass allowed 0.756 points per play (536 points on 709 plays) and, among all NBA players with at least 475 defended possessions, Bass ranked seventh overall (teammate Avery Bradley topped that list at a minuscule 0.697, but Bass was in the cluster behind him).

Rivers heaped praise on Bass early in the series, suggesting that he played a "perfect" Game 1. With the team in dire need of ballhandling to aid Bradley, the Celtics moved Jason Terry into the starting unit for Game 3 and Bass struggled a bit in a reserve role. Rivers reversed course Sunday and reaped the defensive benefits.

"[Bass] did a great job," Bradley said. "Me, personally, I think we won the game because of Brandon. All credit to Brandon. He played great defense."

What did Bradley think was Bass' secret?

"Just trying to make everything hard on him," he said. "Melo is a great player. That’s all you can do, just try to make everything hard. I feel like Brandon did a great job."

Echoed Kevin Garnett: "Obviously, Melo's going to get a bunch of looks, he's going to get a lot of opportunity at shooting the ball. Guarding a guy who is, if he's not the MVP of the league, is very difficult. He's a handful and I thought BB just did what he could today and I thought he did it consistently."

Read on for more postgame notes, including a Chris Wilcox cameo and Boston's ever-changing guard rotation.

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NEW YORK -- The Celtics have done a solid job defending the 3-point line during the first two games of an Eastern Conference first-round series against the Knicks, but they let up just long enough during Tuesday's Game 2 and it might have ultimately caused them to unravel.

Owning a six-point lead coming out of halftime, the Celtics watched Iman Shumpert connect on a pair of triples over the first 122 seconds of the third quarter to tie the game and swing a pingponging momentum back to New York. The Knicks utilized it to dominate the third quarter, outscoring Boston by 21 in the frame en route to an 87-71 triumph at Madison Square Garden.

"They attacked us and we didn't handle it very well," said Celtics coach Doc Rivers. "We have to be able to do better. I don't know what we are doing wrong in the beginning of third quarters, but we gave up those two back-to-back 3s, which helped their confidence."

Later Rivers added: "It was our defense in the third quarter, clearly. We gave up 3s that we don't give up in this series. I don't know. We didn't come out with the same mentality we did in the first half. I don't know why and I need to find that out in the next two days."

The Knicks connected on 7 of 19 3-pointers (36.8 percent) on Tuesday, but were a mere 1-of-10 in the second half outside of Shumpert's early outburst. It was enough to help New York build as much as a 16-point lead as Boston struggled mightily to generate its own offense.

"We opened up their 3-point game," said Paul Pierce. "We came out and gave Shumpert those two early 3s ... and we’ve been defending the 3 pretty much well all game, and that was a point of emphasis. We have to do a better job, in that aspect, overall. You have a team that’s shooting 40 percent [and averaging] 85 points -- a lot of things we’re doing well, defensively."

Echoed Courtney Lee: "Those two 3s by Shumpert were huge. It was back-to-back, they tied the game up, and then once it's a game, it's anybody's game when it's tied."

Read on for a few other postgame notes on the bench:

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MIAMI -- Boston Celtics forward Jeff Green joked that his left elbow is "still attached" after an awkward landing forced him from Friday's game against the Miami Heat early in the fourth quarter and downplayed the severity of the injury while noting he should be able to play Saturday night in Orlando.

"Any time you hit a nerve, it feels numb down the whole arm," said Green. "And it wouldn’t come back as fast I wanted to, because we were still playing. But I’m fine."

Green spilled hard to the floor after a powerful driving dunk -- one of three on the night -- with 10:03 to play in the fourth quarter and, falling backward on the baseline, his elbow took the brunt of the tumble. He was wincing in pain on the bench as trainer Ed Lacerte put a shooting sleeve over the injury, but Green soon retreated to the locker room and did not return.

Green finished with a team-high 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting with eight rebounds and two assists over 36:25.

"Birdman [Chris Andersen], he tried to run off [and] I felt his feet undercut mine," explained Green. "I know it wasn’t on purpose. It was just something, it was the first thing that hit. I’m cool, man."

Green, who was coming off consecutive tough shooting nights, was aggressive going at the hoop for much of the night (five of his seven misses came beyond the 3-point arc). On a night where the Celtics gave Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce rest for their sore ankles, getting Green back on track -- despite the injury scare -- was one of the biggest positives of the night.

"I thought Jeff was great. I really did," said Celtics coach Doc Rivers. "I thought he attacked early on. I thought they did a good job, after that, of clogging it up. I thought Jeff made plays and we missed shots and the more we missed, the more they could clog it up to take away his drives. I couldn’t have been happier with the first half of Jeff. That was terrific. And their adjustment was pack it in and make guys make shots, and we couldn’t make them for a while."

Read on for more notes, including Jason Terry's explanation of his technical foul; Doc's take on Rondo traveling in the postseason; and praise for old friend Ray Allen.

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BOSTON -- If Boston Celtics guard Jordan Crawford had any extra emotions playing against his former team for the first time -- you know, the one he said Saturday that he doesn't remember playing for -- he didn't show it on the court Sunday against the Washington Wizards.

Crawford quietly chipped in six points on 2-of-3 shooting over 16 minutes, 19 seconds of floor time during Boston's 107-96 triumph at TD Garden. As reporters swarmed his teammates in the locker room, Crawford flipped up the hood on his oversized coat and sneaked out unfettered.

"Honestly, until you just brought it up, I didn’t think about it much," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said of Crawford's under-the-radar composure. Later he added, "I thought for a kid who clearly wanted to beat this team -- like any other kid does when you play [your former team] -- I thought his composure was terrific."

Early in the second quarter, Crawford spun into the lane and hit a difficult fadeaway jumper for his first points of the game. He hit a pull-up jumper in transition soon after. And that was evidently enough for him. Crawford passed up a heat-check 3-pointer -- likely to the surprise of his former teammates -- and didn't shoot again until missing a triple in the fourth frame. He added two assists, two steals, and three turnovers to his stat line.

Before the game, Wizards coach Randy Wittman tried to explain why it didn't work out in Washington with Crawford.

"It isn't so much that it didn't work out -- as the team developed and we started getting pieces back, obviously we were really banged up earlier in the year, and Bradley Beal's development, we thought that was the direction we were going to go through and give Bradley an opportunity to continue to grow, and it was nothing more than that," Wittman said of a swap that brought injured Leandro Barbosa and veteran big man Jason Collins to Washington. "Those things happen every year in the development of your team and you see different people develop and now it changes your focus on how you want to build your team and the people around it, and that's really how all that came about."

Informed of Crawford's suggestion that he doesn't remember playing for Washington, Wittman simply smiled and said, "I'm not going to get into a war of words here."

Inside the Wizards' locker room, former teammate John Wall was happy for Crawford's situation in Boston.

“It’s totally different. His role is totally different on this side," said Wall. "I know he’s probably enjoying it because they’re going to the playoffs. That’s one thing we never experienced in our career so far and he has a chance to do that this year, so that’s a big congrats to him and good luck to the Celtics.”

Read on for a few more notes, including Shavlik Randolph's non-stop bloody nose; Collins' return to Boston; and Pierce's award-winning night:

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BOSTON -- Asked if this was his finest NBA performance, Celtics big man Shavlik Randolph pondered the question for a fleeting moment, then shook his head.

"No, because we lost," he said before departing the Celtics' locker room after Friday's 97-91 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Despite playing only 13 foul-limited minutes, Randolph scored a career-high 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting and added seven rebounds. He was a team-best plus-10 in plus/minus -- his preferred barometer for in-game success -- and clearly impacted the contest despite the whistles that left him disqualified with seven minutes to play in the fourth quarter.

A week after his breakout performance here against the Hawks, Randolph lamented how the final result diminished his individual success. And even all the good he chalked up to his teammates' efforts.

"I was just rolling hard to the basket and guys were finding me, simple as that," said Randolph. "I was getting good passes, putting me in positions where I can finish around the rim. I wasn’t really making any tough shots, just my teammates were finding me."

Celtics coach Doc Rivers chuckled while relaying how Randolph's slight hesitation around the basket actually probably helped him draw a couple whistles against over-eager defenders. But he really likes what he's seen from the 29-year-old big man, who is making a strong case to be a rotation-caliber big even when reinforcements arrive.

"He's playing great. Just leave it at that; he's just playing great basketball and we're going to keep playing him," said Rivers.

Even if that means playing through the whistles.

"Just try to keep my composure," Randolph said of getting past foul trouble. "In a game, you’re not always going to agree with the calls, that’s just the nature of the game. You just try to keep playing. If you foul out, then you try to cheer your teammates on. That’s what I tried to do tonight."

The Celtics sorely missed Randolph's size and rebounding abilities when he was off the floor. And he knows that it's his defense and rebounding that will keep him on the court if he can carve out a playoff role with this team.

"Like I said, my job is not to score," said Randolph. "If I’m able to play off [teammates], give some opportunistic baskets, that’s a bonus. But my job is to rebound and play defense. ... All I know is I’ll be ready, regardless [of any playoff role]."

Read on for more postgame notes:

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BOSTON -- Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers said it's pretty simple when it comes to whether or not center Kevin Garnett will play in Monday's showdown with the Miami Heat.

"If he’s healthy, he’ll play," said Rivers. "And if he’s not, he will not."

Garnett missed just his second game of the season on Saturday night due to a left adductor strain that limited his mobility in practice Friday and again at the team's shootaround before a 105-88 triumph over the Charlotte Bobcats at TD Garden.

Now the question is whether Garnett will be ready for Monday's game against the streaking Heat. Whether by design or happenstance, the Celtics' locker room had every angle covered.

Paul Pierce is planning as if Garnett will not play. "We don’t expect him to be back, right now," said Pierce. "And that’s the mindset we have to take. If he’s back, that’s just an added bonus for us to play Miami. Right now, as of today, we have to get it in our mind that this is the team that we’re going to see versus Miami, and we all gotta be ready to step up."

Brandon Bass is planning as if Garnett will play. "He'll be able to go," said Bass. "We're looking forward to him going, but if not, everybody's got to step up."

Taking a spot somewhere in between, Jason Terry offered: "I have no idea what [Garnett's] status will be, but whoever's in a white and green uniform will be ready to go."

Read on for a handful of other notes from Saturday's game:

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BOSTON -- Mickael Pietrus invaded the home locker room before the Celtics hosted the Raptors on Wednesday night at TD Garden and glanced wistfully at his old locker stall while greeting former teammates. Truth be told, he never really wanted to leave here and hasn't quite come to terms with the fact that he didn't return to Boston this season.

"I can’t get over it. I cannot," admitted Pietrus. "I’ll be honest with you guys. I just can’t because Boston was what I like to do -- fight, protect your jersey and that’s what I like to do. It is what it is. You never know, hopefully I’ll be back. Cross your fingers."

Pietrus spent much of the summer holding out in hopes of landing something above a minimum contract, but the Celtics had little financial flexibility and ultimately maxed out their guard depth by adding Jason Terry, Courtney Lee and Leandro Barbosa.

Pietrus didn't find work until after the season started, when he signed a minimum-contract deal with the Raptors in late November. The 31-year-old guard started in 16 of his 18 total appearances while averaging 5.6 points and 1.9 rebounds over 21.3 minutes per game, but hasn't played now since Jan. 9.

Pietrus, who expressed an insatiable desire to chase a title after he signed with Boston on Christmas Eve 2011, seems a bit crestfallen by the idea of riding the bench for a lottery-bound team. He did perk up when asked if he'd consider playing for the Celtics in the future.

"I would love to play with those guys in the locker room -- KG, Paul Pierce. Any time they want to make a championship run, it would be great for me to play for them," said Pietrus, who called the 2011-12 Celtics the best team he has played for. "I had fun. Boston is right here [pointing at his heart]. It is what it is. I have to move on. We’ve moved on already. But you never know. Life changes fast. Maybe I can wear that green again."

Pietrus deemed himself in full health, this after battling both knee and concussion issues that detoured him at times in Boston. Having lost Barbosa for the season, the Celtics could have certainly used Pietrus around -- for his contributions on and off the court.

"He was great for us," said Celtics coach Doc Rivers. "He's another one of those guys that you want, not only on your team, but in your locker room because he's a sunshine-bringer. You laugh when you see him. When he's around, he works hard, but he keeps things happy."

Pietrus logged his 30th consecutive DNP during Wednesday's loss in Boston.

Read on for more postgame notes, including Rivers on how Garnett and Pierce make him a smarter coach, Boston getting to the charity stripe with frequency (for a change), and what the future holds for D.J. White and Shavlik Randolph:

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BOSTON -- After Friday's win over the Atlanta Hawks, the Boston Celtics are now 14-4 since Rajon Rondo went down with a season-ending ACL injury. They endured the loss of two other key players since then and survived a trade deadline in which many armchair general managers screamed for their veterans to be flipped for future assets.

With the way this team has rallied from adversity, is there something special going on here?

"We're working hard. We haven't gave in to the bull---- --- critics," barked Kevin Garnett. "We're working hard, we're grinding, we're showing our character. Our coach [Doc Rivers] is a grinder himself and his team is just that. We're not looking for any handouts or sympathies or anything like that. We don't expect anybody to give us nothing and we're going out and working hard, gaining everything we're getting. We're giving ourselves a chance every night. We're leaning on each other, we're playing together. I can probably better answer your question later on in the postseason, see where we're at. It's still early."

Boston has now won five games in a row to move seven games over .500. The Celtics currently sit tied with Atlanta for the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference, and Boston has eyes on climbing higher.

Rivers doesn't get too caught up in what his team is accomplishing at the moment, but admits it's been a fun team to coach.

“I don’t know if I’m surprised at anything with this group of guys," said Rivers. "We just put them in there and hope they do well, honestly. I don’t look at it that way, I mean you can, but I just think they should. I really do. When they’re in, their job is to do what we do. And we talk about that. Doesn’t matter who’s on the floor.”

Read on for some more notes from Friday's game:

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INDIANAPOLIS -- It wasn't a particularly flattering accessory, but Paul Pierce had one leg of his suit pants rolled up and a large ice wrap over his left knee while addressing the media after Wednesday's win over the Indiana Pacers.

Reason for concern?

"Just a little bruise, it happened [Tuesday] night [in Philadelphia]," Pierce said. "I played, so it’s not a problem."

True, but Pierce labored, missing 11 of the 15 shots he put up while posting 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists over 33 minutes, 48 seconds. Then again, the knee didn't hinder him from holding up 6-foot-9, 250-pound David West just long enough for Jeff Green to produce the winning layup in an 83-81 triumph over the Pacers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Pierce, Boston's usual final-play target, served as decoy on the decisive set, and his back pick keyed Green's give-and-go with Kevin Garnett for the winning hoop.

"Good things happen when you execute –- being in the right spot, setting the screen," Pierce said. "It showed tonight. Everybody was in the right spot."

Pierce also has battled a pinched nerve in his neck, but a big victory will dull the pain of lingering bumps and bruises.

A handful of postgame notes from Wednesday:

* DEFENSE SPARKED COMEBACK: Masked ever so slightly by Green's late-game offensive heroics was just how good Boston's defense was in the final frame. The Pacers were just 4-of-20 shooting (20 percent) for 13 points. What's more, George Hill scored eight of those points in a 61-second span while trying to fend off a Boston charge. Paul George provided Indiana's only other bucket of the frame. In fact, after George's 3-pointer with 4:36 to play, the Pacers did not score again, missing their final seven shots and turning the ball over three times.

* CRAWFORD BIG IN FOURTH: Jordan Crawford didn't score in the fourth quarter, but he played seven quality minutes to start the frame, allowing the likes of Avery Bradley and Pierce to rest for the late run. Said Celtics coach Doc Rivers: "Jordan Crawford was on the floor when we started our run; he was big for us. I was going to search for any lineup I could find tonight in the second half, because that’s what you felt the game was going to be. It wasn’t going to be a normal [game]. Going into the game, I thought we were going to be big all game. Then we decided, small was better and it worked out for us." Crawford finished with two points on 1-of-4 shooting but was plus-8 over 12:42 of floor time.

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BOSTON -- For the past three weeks, Jason Terry has not-so quietly stewed over the game-winning jumper that Chicago's Marco Belinelli produced over him during an overtime triumph at TD Garden last month. So when the ball improbably bounced to Belinelli behind the 3-point arc in the final seconds of a two-point game during Wednesday's rematch, Terry's eyes bulged in an 'are-your-serious?!' kind of moment.

Terry swooped in from behind and emphatically blocked Belinelli's shot. Chicago's Taj Gibson got the rebound and put up a desperation triple that fell short as Boston escaped with a not-easy-on-the-eyes 71-69 triumph.

"It was a flashback -- JET's been talking about this game, probably, since the last time we played them," teammate Avery Bradley said. "Every single day he's been saying something about it, and so it's funny that he kind of had a similar situation and got the block at the end of the game. He's been wanting this game so bad. He's been talking about it every single game."

Terry admitted he was furious watching "SportsCenter" the night of Chicago's victory. Belinelli hit a desperation, 14-foot turnaround jumper over Terry to lift the Bulls. Terry couldn't forget it, probably because he couldn't let it go. He even busted out game film to watch multiple times on Wednesday, just to give him a little extra juice on the floor.

"Every experience is a learning one," Terry said. "This time I learned and it worked out."

Celtics coach Doc Rivers laughed as he playfully reaffirmed that Terry is Boston's new defensive stopper, this after the 35-year-old veteran came up with a crucial late-game steal in Sunday's triple-overtime win over the Nuggets. Terry struggles to maintain defensive consistency at an advanced age, but has a knack for coming through in clutch situations.

"For me, it’s just what I hang my hat on. You can say I’m not a great defender or whatever, but I bet on myself in tough, clutch situations with the game on the line, whether it’s offensively or defensively," Terry said. "I’ve been in that situation enough times to know, I’m going to do whatever it takes to win in that situation."

And maybe now he can finally delete the last Celtics-Bulls meeting from his DVR.

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BOSTON -- Boston Celtics captain Paul Pierce played 54 minutes 11 seconds during Sunday's triple-overtime triumph over the Denver Nuggets. That's a mere three seconds short of his career high (set seven years ago during a double-overtime loss to Cleveland). Kevin Garnett logged 47:03, a number he's reached only 24 times in his entire career and not since playing 51 minutes for the Timberwolves in March 2007.

If Celtics coach Doc Rivers elected to give Pierce and Garnett a night off when the team travels to Charlotte for the tail end of a back-to-back on Monday, he could be forgiven (heck, with no national TV broadcast, the league might not even make the team pay for it). As Boston prepped to board its midnight flight, Rivers was noncommittal about how he'll proceed.

"I’ll let you know after the game [Monday]," Rivers said. "I mean Paul played 54 minutes, and he’s the guy that I’m most concerned with to be honest. And they just played so hard. ... If we have to rest guys, play them shorter minutes tomorrow -- the only way I can do it is by my eyes. You’ll never know how guys feel until [Monday]."

Pierce smiled when asked after Sunday's game if he was tired.

"Yeah, I'm tired after every game," he said. Pressed on if he was more tired than usual, Pierce added, "Well, my adrenaline is still coming down. I'm sure I'll feel it later."

Garnett playfully joked about his whopping minute total, even after catching a brief breather at the start of the second overtime.

"I told Doc I wasn't build for this s--- and I don't know what the hell he thought," Garnett quipped. "But I probably won't even play [Monday] night. I'm lying. I'm out here grinding. It's what it is. Heart of a champion. What can I say?"

If nothing else, the Celtics almost certainly will lean heavier on their younger legs on Monday in Charlotte. The team has to hope the likes of Avery Bradley (45:44 vs. Denver) and Jeff Green (41:38) can bounce back to take some of the pressure off the 35+ club of Garnett, Pierce and Jason Terry (42:38).

Boston's depth (and youthfulness) has eroded with the loss of Rajon Rondo and rookie Jared Sullinger. But given the season struggles of the Bobcats, Boston figures to look to a bench that has risen to the challenge for much of this seven-game winning streak.

The Celtics are 6-6 on the second night of back-to-backs this season, but a mere 3-6 when that second game occurs on the road. Boston might be willing to sacrifice a loss -- even with a season-high seven-game winning streak in place -- after pulling out Sunday's win.

"Honestly, I’m thinking in the middle of [Sunday's] game or late in the game in the overtimes, ‘Boy, [Monday is] going to be hard,’" Rivers said. "It’s funny how a coach thinks. I’m thinking, ‘We have to somehow win this game tonight.’”

Read on for a few more postgame notes:

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BOSTON -- Paul Pierce and Jason Terry were standing shoulder-to-shoulder, grinning from check to cheek as Kevin Garnett, fresh off his on-court induction into the NBA's elite 25,000-point club, grooved nearby to the "American Bandstand" clip that he loves so dearly and punctuates lopsided Boston victories.

At the other end of the court, Kobe Bryant stood a step outside the Lakers' huddle and just glared. Boston danced away with a 116-95 triumph over its rival in the first of two meetings this season and the Celtics were more than happy to add a little bit more drama to the Lakers' soap-opera season.

"Oh yeah, whenever you match up Celtics and Lakers, the rivalry, it always feels good when you can give them an old-fashioned beatdown in your house," admitted Pierce. "No matter what direction each team is going, it will always be a rivalry. Everybody is always going to watch and it feels good when you can do it like that."

Pierce scored a team-high 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting in less than 30 minutes of play. Boston saw its lead balloon as high as 32 in the second half and the veterans were afforded the rare opportunity to kick their feet up while the likes of rookie Fab Melo played the final five minutes of the game.

Pierce did hesitate when asked if he had any flashbacks to Game 6 of the 2008 NBA Finals.

"It's a new day. They've got a new team," said Pierce. "I didn't really think of it that way, but the stakes are always high when you've got the Lakers and the Celtics playing against each other, whether it's there or here. It's always going to have that playoff feel."

This was about as breezy a win as Boston has generated this season, keeping its foot on the gas in the middle frames before blowing the game open with a dizzying outburst late in the third quarter. The Celtics shot 52.9 percent from the floor, limited their turnovers, won the battle on the glass, and emerged with an ultra-satisfying triumph that pushed their winning streak to a season-best six games.

Even Bryant offered high praise.

"It’s typical Celtics basketball. They all just put their hard hats on and they go out and go hard and figure things out," he said. "It always just seems like, whenever their backs are against the wall, you know that’s when you really see the best from them. Then they perform and step up and play well, just like they did last year."

Added Bryant: "That’s just what this team does. They kind of rope-a-dope you a little bit."

Read on for more postgame notes, including Boston working through whistles; Courtney Lee's underrated defense on Kobe Bryant; and Avery Bradley's defense on Doc Rivers in Toronto:

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Some news, notes, and analysis after the Boston Celtics defeated the Toronto Raptors 99-95 on Wednesday night at the Air Canada Centre:

* CONTROLLED CHAOS: The Celtics won their fifth straight since losing Rajon Rondo for the season with an ACL tear, but this was by far the best of the bunch (yes, trumping even the double-overtime win against Miami and Sunday's takedown of the Chris Paul-less Clippers). Sure, the Celtics were far from perfect on Wednesday, particularly when they came unraveled at the end of the third quarter and allowed Toronto to open a double-digit lead. But it's how they responded in the fourth frame, showing some oft-unseen resolve that speaks volumes about the inspired ball this team is playing at the moment. Turnovers killed Boston -- it committed 14 overall for a whopping 28 points -- but gave the ball away only twice in the final frame. Without a pure ballhandler to lean on down the stretch, that's solid damage control.

"Tonight was tough," Celtics coach Doc Rivers told reporters in Toronto. "These are the games when you really miss [Rondo] because you needed to get organized a couple times. But our guys did it. We wasted a couple timeouts to get them organized every time I thought they were not. And there's no ballhandler. We come out of timeouts and you don't know who's going to bring the ball up on our team right now. Hell, I don't know half the time, and it's good. It's good confusion."

* RIVERS' 400TH WIN AS C'S COACH: Rivers became only the third coach in team history to reach the 400-win plateau and is creeping up on Tommy Heinsohn (427) for second place behind virtually uncatchable Red Auerbach (795). Now in his ninth season with Boston, Rivers is 400-288 (.581 winning percentage) overall in the regular season (and 53-43 in the postseason). Including his four-plus years in Orlando, Rivers owns 571 career regular-season wins.

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BOSTON -- Celtics coach Doc Rivers said rookie Jared Sullinger had been dealing with back woes in recent weeks, but it hadn't forced the first-year forward off the floor until Wednesday's 99-81 triumph over the Sacramento Kings.

Sullinger played a mere 4 minutes, 8 seconds before pulling himself from the game due to back spasms. He tried to ice the affected area in hopes of returning to the game, but was ruled out late in the first half.

"I know he was trying to get back on the floor," said Rivers. "I don't know if that's bad. But when you have spasms, they last. And we'll just see. He's day-to-day."

Red flags about his back forced Sullinger to slide down the draft board in June before Boston scooped him up at No. 21. This is the first time back woes have forced him out of action, but Rivers admitted it's a lingering issue.

"Honestly, I know [team trainer] Eddie [Lacerte] said something a week or two ago, it's been bothering him," said Rivers. "And I think this is what he'll have. He'll have these episodes. We gotta get him through it. Hopefully he doesn't miss games with them. But if he does, he does. He's going to get right and come back."

It was a less-than-ideal day for Sullinger. Not only did he have the back issue, but the league passed him over for the Rising Stars rookie/sophomore game next month at All-Star weekend in Houston and upheld his first career technical from Sunday's double-overtime win over the Miami Heat.

Informed of the Rising Stars snub, All-Star-bound Kevin Garnett hoped his young teammate used it as motivation.

"It doesn't surprise me," said Garnett. "The league has, I guess, an agenda in what they want, and Jared's not in that agenda. I hope it creates a monster within him. I hope it does nothing but encourage him."

Rivers thinks better things await Sullinger in the future.

"Listen, he'll make [All-Star-like events] eventually -- and maybe not that team, but he'll be in the league a long time and I think he'll be happier with that in the long run," said Rivers.

Read on for more postgame notes, including why Rivers got mad at Jeff Green; Courtney Lee disputes he's "unhappy" in Boston; Brandon Bass bounces back; and C's spread the wealth.

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