The game began with a new video montage, after which the starting lineup was introduced. The final starter earned the loudest ovation when his name was called, Boston’s captain being saluted by 20,000 fans who missed his presence during the season’s first three games, all losses.

Paul Pierce ran through a sea of his teammates’ hands and bounced to the sound of the music. The crowd was hungry for his return and anxious for the Celtics to snap the losing skid that had people clamoring for change. I don’t want to say people were starting to believe the ship was sinking, but I might have seen Jermaine O’Neal searching frantically for a life preserver after the loss to New Orleans. The season was only three games young, yet the Celtics took the court on Friday surrounded by considerably lower optimism than they carried into Christmas Day against the New York Knicks.

And then Pierce took the floor, the Garden crowd roared… and another bad start ensued. But the slow start didn’t last. Before long, Pierce was draining his patented stepback jumper, Sasha Pavlovic was contesting shots and making a positive impact and Jermaine O’Neal was showing off the new legs he purchased yesterday on the black market. When Ray Allen and then Pierce hit three-pointers to open the third quarter, it was clear that whatever demons had plagued the Celtics in their three-game season-opening road trip did not make the trip to the TD Garden on this night. The 96-85 rout was on, punctuated in the third quarter when O’Neal blocked a shot on one end, finished an and-one at the other, then called to thank the doctor who performed his CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation yesterday.

I am having fun at O’Neal’s expense, but he was great. Perhaps that was a function of meeting Detroit’s front line — Jonas Jerebko and Greg Monroe are not in danger of being voted to the All-Defensive Team any year soon — but the worries about his legs did not extend into tonight. O’Neal grabbed a season-high seven rebounds, blocked two shots, scored 11 more points than he had all season, and even when he missed a dunk, it was with authority rather than a whimper.

O’Neal’s contributions will fall next to the same asterisk as the entire win — *but it was against the Pistons. Lawrence Frank’s team, a smattering of over-the-hill veterans and not-excessively-talented youngsters, is in for a long season, and it’s natural to wonder whether Boston would have been so impressive against any other team. But that’s a question for another night. Tonight, the Celtics (finally) won, Pierce returned and looked great, and hope again illuminated the Garden’s parquet floor.

Game Notes:

– Just to put Pierce’s 12 points, five assists and four rebounds into perspective, he’s participated in one practice during the past seven months. I understand that he has been working out by himself, both during the lockout and during the past few days. But to look that natural after such a long layoff is abnormal.

– Rajon Rondo’s shoulders probably feel a lot lighter after tonight’s game, now that he didn’t have to carry the Celtics for the entire night. Over the years I’ve come to understand that Rondo’s a reluctant scorer. He occasionally does when he needs to, especially in the playoffs, but for the most part, Rondo is entirely against accumulating unnecessary statistics. He’s content with sitting back, watching Boston’s offense run smoothly, notching nine points and five dimes and letting his teammates carry the Celtics to victory. I wish he would get selfish more often, but we’ve had to settle for certain nights when Rondo does not shift into attack mode.

– If I’m not mistaken, Kevin Garnett does not have a single dunk this season. For the second straight game, Garnett did not reach double figures in scoring. He still hasn’t reached double figures in rebounding this season, grabbing just three tonight. I’m not scared shitless yet — it’s only game four of a 66-game season, after all — but I’m worried. There were a couple times when Garnett had inside position down low, rebounds bounced off the rim and Monroe still beat KG to the ball. That never used to happen to KG. Never.

– I feel like I’m going to spend a lot of time this season thanking Otis Smith. Brandon Bass is a beautiful German Shepherd that showed up on Danny Ainge’s doorstep with a bow around it. And he’s a lot more potty trained than Glen Davis ever was. (Note: At some point, I’ll stop comparing Bass to Davis. But for now it’s just too fun.)

– When Sasha Pavlovic entered the game in the second quarter rather than E’Twaun Moore, I almost took off my shoe and threw it directly through my TV screen. Sadly, I wasn’t wearing a shoe. But then Pavlovic contested an Austin Daye post-up perfectly, forcing a supremely difficult shot. Then he leaked out and made a layup. Then he drilled a three. Then he had a defensive possession during which he cut off Rodney Stuckey’s penetration and forced a pass, rotated to help on Brandon Knight, then somehow recovered to Stuckey to contest a three-pointer. I know, it’s weird to hear me praise Pavlovic. He deserved it tonight, those two late bricks notwithstanding.

– Every time I see Jason Maxiell play, I’m reminded that there once was a time when I truly enjoyed his game. Back before he overdosed on cheeseburgers, when he used to inject every game with energy and try to dunk everything he touched, Maxiell used to be a real asset. Now he’s a lot like Tayshaun Prince and Ben Wallace: relics of a better time.

– Lawrence Frank looks like Neil Patrick Harris, who plays Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother, a fictional character who beds a different woman almost every night. By transitive property, does that mean Frank gets his womanizer on? The answer to this question isn’t likely to affect Detroit’s rebuilding quest, but it’s worth pondering for a moment or two.

– Ray Allen can make great plays seem so easy, and I’m not just talking about when he fades into the fifth row while drilling a corner three. At least twice tonight, Allen curled around down screens, drew two defenders and slipped a bounce pass to the rolling big man the instant he caught the ball. Allen’s just always a threat defenses need to account for. Not like I need to tell you that, but I felt the urge tonight.

– Marquis Daniels didn’t have a great night, but I truly enjoyed his pregame speechm which he ended: “I wish y’all a Happy New Year and a Merry Christmas and all that good stuff.” And if I ever need a spinal cord surgery, I want his doctor. Dude hasn’t lost a step.

– Damien Wilkins is still playing a role in the NBA. I feel better about Pavlovic now.

– Damn it, I promised myself I wouldn’t joke about Pavlovic after his performance tonight.

– When Monroe received the ball with Greg Stiemsma guarding in the second quarter, somebody on the Celtics could be heard yelling, “Block Party.” Stiemsma ultimately fouled Monroe, but still. The Stiemer’s already earning the respect of his teammates. I guess that’s what blocking three zillion shots in your NBA debut will do.

– Stiemsma only had one block, but he challenges everything. It’s too bad we’ll never get to see Stiemsma play against an in-his-prime Shaq, because Stiemsma would have had real Shawn Bradley potential.

The Captain is back and the Celtics are in the win column.

Until next time, folks.

To apologize for my lack of a game preview (sorry guys, busy day), a joke:

Joe Dumars.

I’m not saying it’s time to panic if the Celtics lose to the Pistons tonight, but it might be time to panic if the Celtics lose to the Pistons tonight.

The good news (or bad news, depending on the results) is that E’Twaun Moore now has two weeks to prove himself as capable of being in Doc Rivers’ rotation. The Celtics say they aren’t worried long-term about Pietrus’ injury, but when the Celtics say that, it’s possible that Pietrus will miss the rest of the regular season and return for the playoffs, only to re-injure himself in the layup line. I’m not saying that will happen, of course. I’m just saying I trust the Celtics’ description of injuries as much as I would trust Tiger Woods alone with my girlfriend for a week-long vacation.

Through three games, the Boston Celtics have made a frustrating habit of beginning bouts like drying cement is stuck to the bottoms of their shoes and 75-pound weight vests are fastened around their chests.

It took five minutes for Boston to trail New York 17-9. The deficit would increase to 16 during the second quarter before the smelling salts began to work and Boston seized control in the third, ultimately coming unhinged down the stretch amid a hail storm of Carmelo Anthony.

It took barely more than five minutes for the Celtics to trail Miami 21-11. The Celtics eventually fought back within three by the end of the first quarter, but the Heat blitzed Boston in the second and built a 20-point lead by the third, when announcer Steve Kerr noted that Doc Rivers would be best served resting his starters for the rest of the game. Evidence that Kerr probably shouldn’t be a coach (we already know he shouldn’t be a GM), the Celtics eventually scratched within three points before something called Norris Cole revealed his finishing move.

The Celtics actually started the New Orleans game with a bang, building a 9-2 lead almost instantly. But by the six-minute mark the comatose Celtics had returned — the Hornets seized a 10-9 lead and finished the first quarter ahead 24-18, even without leading scorer Eric Gordon.

Keyon Dooling described the starts as if they were just a result of lacking energy, and perhaps that’s the case.

“Three home road openers, so those teams were all pumped. They were the aggressors initially, and we were on our heels. We have to be the aggressors initially. We’ll get it corrected,” said Dooling, according to the Boston Herald.

But it should also be noted that bad starts are considerably more likely to happen when a team starts a lineup that consistently performs at a sub-standard level. And Boston’s starting five, predictably, has been among the team’s worst units through three games.

Maybe that’s mostly due to energy, like Dooling suggests, and has nothing to do with the fact that Boston starts both Sasha Pavlovic and Jermaine O’Neal, who have combined to score just 20 points in 97 minutes. But I would wager the poor starts are as much a result of the starting lineup as they are a result of any amount of jet lag, partying in South Beach, away court disadvantage or whatever other excuses the Celtics might conjure in their brains.

It’s a small sample size, but Boston’s starting lineup has played 29.07 minutes as a unit this season according to BasketballValue.com– more than double the amount of time the next-most frequently used unit has played — and been outscored by 19.24 points per 100 possessions. Considering that Pavlovic and O’Neal both start, the lineup is predictably low-scoring, pouring in 98.31 points per 100 possessions, a number that would have ranked dead last among NBA offenses last season. The unit also has been surprisingly atrocious defensively, surrendering 117.54 points per 100 possessions, a number that would have been dead last in defensive efficiency last season. The poor defense could be a factor of Boston using a new lineup without much time to develop chemistry during training camp or it could be a result of Boston’s slowing legs (O’Neal looks particularly late on defensive rotations, at least compared to his own lofty standards), but likely it is a combination of both. Oddly enough, it’s not bad news that the starting lineup has been so cringe-worthy.

It seems counter-intuitive, but the fact that Boston’s starting unit has performed so poorly should actually cause optimism among Celtics fans. Whenever Paul Pierce returns from injury, Sasha Pavlovic will inevitably find a one-way ticket to the bench waiting in his locker and the unit that has started Boston’s first three games — and done so with miserable results — should find itself in a Doc Rivers-induced hibernation for at least the foreseeable future.

Breaking up The Pavlovic Five should help the Celtics considerably. It won’t cure all of Boston’s ailments, but it will be a good start.

After telling reporters his return would be known approximately 24 hours before it happens, Paul Pierce tweeted that he is “close very very close” to something, presumably his return to the Boston Celtics lineup.

The Cs have lost their first three games and Doc Rivers is probably spending his Thursday night praying for Pierce to come back Friday from a bone bruise in his right heel. In fact, the only person with Celtics ties who might not want Pierce to make his way back is Sasha Pavlovic, who has started in Pierce’s absence. And even Pavlovic must be somewhat sick of starting, at least during game film sessions when he needs to watch himself. That can’t be fun. “Oh, there’s me, standing in the corner doing nothing again.”

Pierce’s return — whether it comes tomorrow night against the Detroit Pistons or at a later date to be determined — will certainly help. So will returning home to the TD Garden. And so will declining to take those horse tranquilizers the Celtics obviously used prior to the Hornets game.