"In the old days, Rasheed Wallace was the player Cavaliers fans -- every opposing fan, really -- loved to hate the most.

He was the kind of physical player who would draw blood from Cavaliers (see Zydrunas Ilgauskas in 2006), the kind of irritating opponent who would guarantee victories for his Detroit Pistons (see 2006 against the Cavaliers, among others) and talk brashly both on and off the court (see every season of his 15-year career).

But in six playoff games before Monday's Game 2 of the Eastern semifinals, the 35-year-old Wallace was mostly irrelevant. He was averaging 3.5 points in 13.2 minutes, and hadn't hit a single trademark 3-pointer.

The Celtics needed more from him, and Boston coach Doc Rivers said so bluntly before Game 2.

"He has to play better, bottom line," Rivers said. "He's got to play better defense. The offense will come, but he has to be a better defender. We can't wait."

Whether Wallace viewed it as a challenge is unknown, since the power forward declined to talk after Boston's 104-86 victory to even the series, 1-1.

But it was certainly a different Wallace from the moment he entered the game in the first quarter. He knocked in all five of his first-half field goals -- including three 3-pointers -- for a team-high 13 points.

In the end, he had 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting in 18 minutes. He was having the kind of night where he even leaped in exaggerated frustration when he missed his lone 3-pointer of the game at the end of the third quarter.

"I just thought Rasheed was phenomenal," Rivers said. "Obviously the threes were huge, but his post play was good as well."

His post play allowed the Celtics to establish an inside-outside balanced attack with Wallace and Kevin Garnett (18 points on 8-for-21 shooting) pounding in the paint and Ray Allen (22 points on 8-for-15 shooting) hitting from afar. Garnett hit only two of his nine attempts in the first half, but Rivers told his 6-11 power forward to keep attacking.

"Kevin was going way too fast in the first half, but he still was a concern in the post," Rivers said. "I kept telling our coaches, 'I don't care that he's not converting right now. [The Cavaliers are] worried about him.'" "