BOSTON -- Lying on his back in the lane, arms outstretched and his eyes gazing at the ceiling of TD Garden Tuesday night, Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce was in too much pain to enjoy the defining moment of Boston's 88-80 season-opening victory over the Miami Heat.

"Actually, when he hit the floor, you could see he hit it pretty hard," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "I thought he was out."

Pierce wasn't. Far from it, actually.

Pierce had just been smashed by a freight train disguised as LeBron James.

After dominating the Heat early and then watching nearly all of his team's 19-point lead slip away, Pierce sprinted back on defense, planted his feet and then absorbed the full brunt of James barreling all of his 6-foot-8 inch, 260-pound frame into the lane while going in for a layup.

The collision sent Pierce tumbling. By the time he came to his senses, he was in the locker room being treated for a bruised back. Pierce, who would return to finish off the Heat, has a reputation for milking these dramatic moments. But this one was legit. The pain was real. The sacrifice was bold.

Never mind that he was called for a blocking foul. Nothing else his team did Tuesday was more symbolic of how uniquely proud, insanely stubborn and breathtakingly defiant the Celtics were on Tuesday. Brick walls don't even have the audacity to stand in front of James when he's got a full head of steam.

The message that possession sent throughout the building, and likely the league, was that the defending Eastern Conference champions won't be backing down and handing anything over to the Heat.

Team trumped dynamic talent Tuesday night. The roster that remained largely intact in the offseason displayed far more chemistry and cohesion than the best squad money could buy last summer. James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh will eventually be extraordinary this season. But they were reduced to ordinary by Boston. Miami's debut was mostly a dud.

The Heat were humbled. It was as simple as that. And the reality of an 82-game regular season dictates that there will occasionally be nights like this. The best thing the Heat took away from one of the most hyped season openers in NBA history was their chartered flight to Philadelphia for Wednesday's game against the 76ers. Well, there was also this dose of reality from Wade.

"Sorry if everyone thought we were going 82-0," Wade said. "It wasn't going to happen."

Boston played like a team that's ready to make a repeat run to the NBA Finals. The Heat played like a team that could use another week of training camp to get its act together. It wasn't hard to see this coming. Wade, James and Bosh played all of 3 minutes, 17 seconds together in the preseason because of injuries. That lack of chemistry was obvious from that moment in the first quarter when Wade cut toward the basket looking for the ball and James threw a pass toward the perimeter.

Turnover. It was one of 14 that Wade and James combined for against the Celtics. That equates to one for every shot Wade and James combined to make Tuesday night. And despite all of that, the Heat overcame adversity well enough to pull to within three points late in the fourth quarter.

So there is potential. But right now, there's a collective call for patience.

"It's a feel-out process," James said of the lack of rhythm Miami showed most of the night. "It was almost as if we were trying to be too unselfish. We still have to play our game."

James accounted for 31 points to set a franchise record for the highest-scoring game in a Heat debut. But none of the points he contributed were bigger than the ones he made after the game. What the Heat have been behind closed doors on the practice court wasn't what they revealed in Boston.

Sure, the Celtics had plenty to do with that. But this was a sloppy Heat team. They looked one-dimensional on offense and settled for far too many jump shots. This is a team that takes pride in its defense, but one that couldn't close out fast enough to open shooters in the final minutes.

In some ways, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra saw a team he didn't recognize.

"In practice, it looked a lot different than this," Spoelstra said. "There is going to be a process with this. There's a lot of expectations and a lot of pressure out there, but we have our own timetable, and we knew this wasn't going to be easy."

That's typically the case when you're a work in progress. As a result, the Heat were worked over.

Wade and James saw their 2010-11 season start the same way their previous one ended individually last season -- with a loss in Boston.

New Heat. Same Celtics. And Boston is still stubborn enough to stand in the way.

Michael Wallace is a regular contributor to the Daily Dime