If you wanted to see a Chris Bosh-Kevin Garnett matchup tomorrow night, call Stu Jackson and tell him you’re happy enough to kiss him on the lips. Despite pushing Billy Walker near his head, I didn’t think Garnett’s actions warranted suspension.

Video of the skirmish after the jump.

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The Boston Celtics continue their opening week with games Tuesday in Miami and Wednesday in New Orleans, but the C’s will be without the team’s latest acquisition.

Mickael Pietrus will undergo an “extensive physical process” this week and will not join Boston on the road. Danny Ainge did not discuss whether Pietrus has a chance to play Friday at home against Detroit, but he will definitely miss Boston’s next two games. (Boston Herald)

“We’re not sending him to Miami or New Orleans,” Celtics President Danny Ainge said today. “He hasn’t even practiced. He hasn’t done anything yet. I’m not sure when that will happen. I hate to speculate on stuff like that.”

Though they don’t expect Pietrus’ recovery from July surgery to take much longer, the team is still investigating the condition of his knee.

“We’ve talked to the Phoenix doctor, and we have some information from him,” said Ainge. “But we have no idea on his knee, except that it should heal soon.”

The knee should heal soon, which is good. But in the meantime, prep yourself for some more Sasha Pavlovic and Avery Bradley.

Years ago in Minnesota, the miss would have been accompanied by insults, by swarms of people imitating Reggie Miller’s choke sign. But Kevin Garnett is a champion now; the shouts demeaning his clutch play have dwindled to a whisper in the wind. So it was that Garnett was the only one making the choke sign, chasing after former teammate Billy Walker with a familiar rabid tick in his eyes.

The Celtics had just lost by two points after Garnett’s 15-footer clanged off the rim at the buzzer when Garnett decided to put his left hand on Walker’s neck. Who knows what was on Garnett’s mind. Perhaps he was perturbed at missing the final shot. Maybe he holds a deep-felt disgust for Walker formed during the player’s brief Celtics career. There’s a chance that Garnett feels his old self slowly dripping away like the sands of an hourglass, and his inability to outplay Amare Stoudemire or create offense using any move besides a simple jump shot left Garnett in a furious state. It’s possible that Walker said something to Garnett after Boston’s loss, something that pushed Garnett into the edgy mental state he visits more often than any other Celtic, maybe any other player in the NBA. Or maybe the incident was just Garnett being Garnett, resorting to quasi-violence because a competitive streak that runs deeper than an Antoine Walker three-pointer boiled over and Billy Walker owned the closest neck to shove.

Boston’s play could not have left Garnett in an enthusiastic mood. The Celtics — known for their especially stout defense the past four seasons — allowed New York to shoot 47.3 percent from the floor and drain nine out of 20 three-pointers. Boston began the race with a flat tire and ended it idling to the finish line. In between there were spurts of acceleration which the Knickerbockers could not handle, specifically a third quarter in which the Celtics outscored their counterparts 35-17, but the Celtics could not keep their collective foot on the pedal consistently throughout the whole game. Eighteen turnovers hurt Boston’s cause, and Doc Rivers’ team mustered only 17 points in the final period against a team hardly known for its defense.

There were positives, of course — Rajon Rondo showed a scoring mentality he rarely, if ever, demonstrated before, comparing Brandon Bass to Glen Davis would be one of the worst insults Bass has ever heard, Ray Allen scored efficiently like usual and the Celtics managed to outrebound New York 41-31 even though Jermaine O’Neal could have had as much impact on the game while getting a massage in the locker room — but for the most part, Boston’s performance was reminiscent of a team that was missing its star small forward and had managed only two weeks of practice after a six-and-a-half month layoff, an observation that should be unsurprising because that’s precisely the scenario Boston was faced with.

Garnett wasn’t awful against New York, not by any measurement. Fifteen points, eight rebounds and always-solid defense are no small accomplishments, especially when those points include a couple clutch (although ultimately futile) jump shots in the fourth quarter. But former MVPs hold themselves to a different standard. Tiger Woods is not pleased by a top-20 finish, Pedro Martinez is disgusted by a 3.95 ERA and Garnett mustn’t appreciate the feeling that he can’t do everything he used to. There were moments when Garnett demonstrated his bright basketball brilliance — a striking behind-the-back pass to Jermaine O’Neal especially comes to mind — but Garnett no longer is able to reach into his back pocket for a 325-yard drive or 100-MPH fastball whenever he needs it.

Doc Rivers has repeatedly said this preseason that Boston needs a more aggressive Garnett, and that’s a reasonable statement for a team that lacks shot creators beyond Rondo (and Pierce whenever he returns). But there are problems with Rivers’ request:

1) Garnett has never been the type to aggressively look for his offense.

2) Garnett, at 35 years old, will struggle to create his own offense with any regularity. Despite a semi-efficient 15-point night, Garnett didn’t have any moments that reminded of his prime, moments when he demanded the ball, posted up with both feet planted, shoulder-faked one way, pivoted the other and let fly a fadeaway that couldn’t have been more unblockable if it had been dropped from the rafters. Garnett is still good, but he is no longer great. He will have brief moments when he looks similar to the 2004 league MVP, but he will also have times when Jared Jeffries pulls the chair and Garnett tumbles to the ground like Johnny Lawrence had just swept his leg.

None of this is to say that Garnett is no longer very good (he is), or that I would want him playing anywhere else (I wouldn’t). There’s valor in the way Garnett is aging, adapting his game and charging on and competing with the same ferocity and selflessness that has always marked him at once as admirable and hated. Even if Danny Ainge could trade Garnett for a younger, equal player (he probably couldn’t), it would be hard to say goodbye. If a handful of wins is what we must sacrifice to root for our aging heroes, then surely we should want to sacrifice that, surely we should have the loyalty to root for men who brought us championships even when they can no longer (figuratively speaking) jump and lift quarters off the top of the shot clock.

Again, I’m not suggesting Garnett has become anything less than useful. He’s still one of the NBA’s better power forwards, still one of its smartest and most disruptive defenders, still a terrific midrange shooter and one of the league’s best-passing big men. The Celtics are far better off with him than without him.

All I’m noting is that yesterday’s loss to the Knicks — even if Garnett had drilled the final jumper — was the latest sign that Garnett has reached the mountain’s summit and is now descending, taking the mountain’s back side one small step at a time while the view gets progressively worse, until one day he will reach the bottom of that mountain, and the best memories of the climb will be the ones that remind Garnett what it felt like to stand on top and look down upon everything else.

Paul Pierce didn’t play yesterday, despite a mentality that led him to tell reporters, “If there was the slightest chance I could play, I’d definitely be out there.”

A bone bruise in Pierce’s heel continues to sideline the small forward, who was especially missed in the fourth quarter yesterday when Boston’s offense lacked any semblance of rhythm or identity (a problem that admittedly haunted Boston last season even with Pierce in the lineup). During that fourth quarter, Pierce’s normal backups were scorched by Carmelo Anthony for 17 points while Pierce sat on the bench looking dapper and svelte in a pinstriped suit. Boston had one last chance to tie or win, but — during a time usually marked by Pierce’s patented stepback jumper, especially in Madison Square Garden — Kevin Garnett missed an open jumper from the right wing and Boston fell to 0-1.

If you were hoping for an exact timetable from Pierce, there wasn’t any. There was no announcement of when he would return because, quite frankly, Pierce doesn’t know. He told reporters that if you Google “bone bruise,” you’ll find that it can take a few days to recover or a few months.

Pierce doesn’t expect the healing process to take months — “Right now, I’m day to day. That’s the reason I came on the [road] trip.” — but he still can’t run up and down the court.

“I have no problem with the cutting movements, shooting,” he said. “I haven’t tried to run up and down yet full-court. That’s where I set myself back the first week of training camp. I was going up and down the court, and I landed hard on it. I just want to be more cautious.”

Pierce said his recovery might be slightly hindered because his bone bruise is located in a bad spot.

“It’s been improving week by week. With regular bruises, it may be a couple of days. But when you’re dealing with a bone bruise on a place where I have to walk every day and apply pressure to it, maybe it slows down the healing process.”

I don’t want to leave you with all injury news, so on a better note: BRANDON BASS!!!!

Mickael Pietrus, who the Boston Celtics signed as a stocking stuffer, is still not completely recovered from July knee surgery that led to a failed physical after he had been traded to the Toronto Raptors.

He was almost traded to the Toronto Raptors two weeks ago but the Raptors were concerned about a July knee surgery that had not completely healed.

According to an NBA source, the knee is not seriously damaged and Pietrus is expected to be 100 percent in about two weeks. It is uncertain if he is capable of playing right now. He did not play in either of Phoenix’s two preseason games.

Although I know Pietrus is nothing special, the Celtics need him and they needed him yesterday. Playing with Sasha Pavlovic is like playing with a cardboard cutout who occasionally picks up technical fouls at ill-advised times. (I know, I know, the only thing he did to earn the technical was walk into Joey Crawford’s line of vision. But still. He had more technical fouls than points.) Yesterday, Pavlovic had 0 points, 1 rebound and 1 assists while his primary counterpart, Carmelo Anthony, registered 37 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists. I’m not saying every point Carmelo scored was on Pavlovic. I’m just saying the Celtics got murdered at small forward and Pavlovic was one of the primary victims.

Pietrus helps, if only because Pavlovic and Avery Bradley (who, sadly, did not receive an offensive game from Santa) don’t deserve NBA minutes. He’ll hit occasional threes, play defense against the opponent’s top shooting guard or small forward, and help assure that Pavlovic and Bradley are firmly fastened to the bench.

Get well soon, Mickael. The Celtics could use you against the Heat tomorrow night, if you’re capable.

Rajon Rondo dazzled, Otis Smith started pounding shots of whiskey after watching Brandon Bass, the Celtics took far too long to wake up, Carmelo Anthony is pretty freaking good, Kevin Garnett decided to put hands on Billy Walker’s neck after missing a jumper at the buzzer, Joey Crawford thinks he’s the reason fans buy tickets, Sasha Pavlovic is still Sasha Pavlovic, and fourth quarter offense might still be Boston’s downfall, at least while Paul Pierce remains injured.

More thoughts to come later, but for now it’s Christmas. Merry Christmas and happy holidays, everyone.

P.S. – What a game.