"It wasn't your average NBA game. It wasn't pretty enough. There were too many mistakes. There were too many loose balls and fumbles and stray elbows. There were more clangs than high noon in the bell tower.

What the Celtics and Knicks did last night was more suited to a game in the park where the winner keeps the court and both fight like hell for the honor. The teams combined to shoot 41.7 percent, but this — not the "make a shot and pose" stuff — is what would really endear the league to those who crave hard and simple competitiveness.

"That seemed like a game in the third and fourth quarter where you had two teams maybe in the summer, and somebody said, 'Hey, whoever wins this game, you're gonna make the NBA,'?" Paul Pierce said after his 30 points led the Celts to a 91-89 victory. "And it was just like both teams were just fighting for it. You know, 'whatever team wins, you're going to be on the roster this year.' And it was just that kind of fight."