• I think Kevin Garnett summarized Boston’s attitude with a very audible “I’ll take this motherf****r” in the first half after Ian Mahinmi subbed in to defend the Big Ticket.  He later received a flagrant 2 and was ejected in the fourth quarter, but even the shakiness of the call itself couldn’t wipe the smile off my face: Boston was the bully in this game.
• Boston showed up to play, with solid defense against a offensively starved Pacers team whose primary option is David West in the post or Paul George along the perimeter, both of whom under performed combining for 19 points on 8-36 shooting.
• Avery Bradley, thank the lord, is playing his signature harassing defense and playing with confidence on the offensive end.  I forgot how much fun he is to root for.  He finished with a modest six points, but his impact was definitely felt by D.J. Augustin.
• Really solid games from Pierce, Rondo, and Sullinger, who all played their respective roles to grind out the win.
• Courtney Lee had arguably his best game with the Celtics, the player rotation seems to finally be coming together with Bradley back, and Lee seems to be sliding into the second unit with Terry and Lee is responding by playing well.
• There was a streak to begin the second half where the ball was only scored with dunks due to the rash of turnovers.
• Tyler Hansbrough is not very liked by many in Boston tonight.  He is that kind of player who is supposed to get under people’s skin, but gosh is he annoying.
• Leandro Barbosa is still a big time scorer, even in garbage time.
• Sully after the game: “We went back to training camp”.  It showed, the Celtic identity was restored and their toughness in tact when he continued “it wasn’t chippy at all, just good hard basketball”.  Editors Note: this game was very chippy

The gloom of this season will have to be put off at least one more night, as the Celtics played well from beginning to end.  The square off against the Hawks tomorrow night, who are coming off a disappointing loss against Detroit.