"Brian Scalabrine thought he was safe.

The Celtics forward, playing for the first time in almost two months after recovering from post-concussion syndrome, had made it through Thursday night's Game 3 without any blows to the head.

Then he sat down next to Stephon Marbury, who was basking in a special night of his own, a 13-point, five-assist performance that ranked as one of his best with the Celts.

Marbury got a little too excited, and as a result, Scalabrine received his first true concussion stress test.

"Man, Steph on the bench," Scalabrine said. "He was jacked up and bouncing around. It was a good elbow. It felt good. I wasn't even expecting it and boom. But I'm good to go."

Apparently, so is Marbury.

His entire time as a Celtic has been rejuvenating. Marbury's old game - the one Kevin Garnett calls the Coney Island flair in the point guard's attack -hasn't been there.

But it's coming, he said, as Thursday's performance suggested.

Marbury led the bench with 24 minutes and channeled that increased time into an attack on the basket.

He took Bulls rookie Derrick Rose to the hoop for his first points of the night late in the opening quarter and uncorked a 28-foot 3-pointer late in the second that triggered a 9-0 run.

Marbury found it much easier to take shots from that point forward.

"I was definitely more aggressive," he said.

"I watched film the last two days and I wasn't being aggressive."