Jeff Green shows why he was a steal in the Perkins trade, hope the haters were watching

It only took a few games for Jeff Green to prove why he'll be a big part of the Boston Celtics and that dreaded time when the Big Three are old and grey (retired).

Green had 21 points off the bench last night as the Celts (45-15) held off the Golden State Warriors (27-34) 107-103 at TD Garden.

Normally, an offensive explosion against the Warriors isn't newsworthy since I'm pretty sure I could drop like ten on them but even the haters had to be impressed by the variety of ways Green can score. He can get out and run on the fastbreak, he can pull up and hit jump shots and he's a good free throw shooter.

Paul Pierce and Ray Allen both scored 27 points while Rajon Rondo handed out 16 assists and had five steals. Nenad Krstic added 11 points.

Monta Ellis showed why he's the NBA's best pure scorer as he put up 41 points while David Lee added 26 points and 12 rebounds. It was pretty much a two-man game though since Dorell Wright (11 points) was the only other Warrior in double figures.

Boston was up 32-27 after the first quarter and 64-53 at halftime. Golden State never went away as they outscored the Cs 28-24 in the third 22-19 in the fourth.

For the game, the Celts shot 53.4% to 47.6% for the Warriors. Boston hit two more 3-pointers (7-5) thanks to Allen (5 3-pointers) and four more free throws (22-18). Golden State grabbed 11 more rebounds (39-28) but Boston had nine more assists (26-17).

The Cs hit the road to face the Milwaukee Bucks tomorrow night. I'm pretty sure those teams haven't played yet this season. The Bucks are not playing well and it looks like they'll miss the playoffs so the Celtics should handle them.

Bill Walton rules

First of all, I have to give props to Bill Walton last night. Taking over on the West Coast trip for Tommy Heinsohn, Walton was absolutely on fire for the entire game. Ripping players left and right, making fun of anything under the sun, it truly was a joy to listen to. I love Tommy and I'm sure Walton never wants to leave California but the Celts should find a way to incorporate him (for the playoffs?) more moving forward.

I've never drank Four Loko (my college experience sadly came a few years too early) but I imagine downing one of those is similar to watching the Golden State Warriors play basketball. One of my buddies from home has season tickets to the Warriors and at first I thought it was a waste of money since the NBA is seriously flawed. However, it would be a trip to see that team play a bunch of games. There's nothing like them: no shot is bad, no player is lacking for overconfidence, defense is non-existent.

It looked like the Celtics (41-14) might get run out of Oracle Arena but they recovered with a fine second half to take a 115-93 win over Golden State (26-30) in their first game after the All-Star break.

In any sport, a sign of a great team is that they can play any style and still beat you. Kevin Garnett (24 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists) and Rajon Rondo (19 points, 15 assists, 6 rebounds) especially seemed to pick it up against the layup line known as the Warriors.

Paul Pierce added 23 points and Ray Allen had 18 points while Glen Davis was nice off the bench with 12 points and 10 assists.

Besides the stud guards Stephen Curry (18 points) and Monta Ellis (15 points), Golden State now has some quality supporting players including David Lee (17 points) and Dorell Wright (19 points) who has become one of the NBA's best shooters out of nowhere.

Boston was up 31-30 after one quarter but it was tied at 60 going into halftime. The Cs won the third quarter (28-15) and the fourth was more of the same (27-15) as the team with the defensive identity showed up when it mattered.

The Celts shot 55.6% to 39.3% for the Warriors. Golden State made 14 more free throws (22-8) but Boston had 17 more rebounds (52-35) and assists (35-18). The Cs had a season-high 30 fastbreak points and 54 points in the paint. What a wacky game. You mentally prepare yourselves for a Warriors game but you can never imagine just how insane they play.

The only bad news for the Celtics was that Kendrick Perkins hurt his left knee although it didn't look too serious. He's questionable for tomorrow night's game in Denver against the Carmelo Anthony-less Nuggets.