"It was the perfect night for a post-Christmas ham. Who better than Bobby Valentine to pop up as the guest of honor in Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck's front-row seat?

The new Red Sox manager, in a black jacket and jeans, stood and waved to all corners of the Garden. He even held the ball for one of Lucky the Leprechaun's trampoline dunks. Except that the Celtics mascot missed.

Someone had to. The Celtics, fresh off an 0-3 start to the season, got their fill of the basket and finally got the requisite number of stops down the other end in last night's 96-85 win over, to be polite, a rebuilding Pistons team.

Paul Pierce, the pain in his bruised right heel subsided enough for action, made his 2011-12 debut with a well-rounded 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting, five assists and four rebounds.

Jermaine O'Neal, in a sense, made his own debut. After scoring eight points, total, in his first three games, the Celtics center broke out last night with 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting and seven rebounds.

Brandon Bass produced another gem off the bench with 17 points, matching Ray Allen's night.

Overall the Celtics shot 52.2 percent and, with solid defense against their winless opponent, held Detroit to 43 percent.

Though the Pistons marked the Celtics' first dip into the lower register of the league, any kind of team was going to do last night. And remarkably, for someone who barely practiced and hadn't played any kind of game — exhibition or regular season — Pierce and his balance were precisely what his team needed for its first win of the season."