Rajon Rondo, had a career-high 16 assists last night. It was the most assists by a Celtic since Sherman Douglas had 18 March 1, 1995. The strangest assist was when he stopped despite being alone underneath to pass to Perkins for a dunk in the first quarter.

"They are lucky they are playing in this generation, I'll say that," said Rivers. "What do you think would have happened [back in the day]? . . . It's nice in one way that you see your big [man] running and you wait for him, but not that long. Actually, if I was a ref, I would have called three seconds on him."

Said Perkins: "[Rondo] is very unselfish. Sometimes he is too unselfish."