The Celtics' fast start has one person who follows them thinking history.

Not a great opening night for the Cavs, who looked like a team still trying to find itself.

LeBron James called it a "transition period."

Coach Mike Brown said: "We will get better."

The cynic in me started to ask why Boson's transition seemed so much easier, but there is an easy reason. Boston's new guys — Rasheed Wallace and Marquis Daniels — are off-the-bench role players.

The Cavs' new guys, right now at least, are core starters. And one of them will be a secondary focal point of the offense. That would be Shaquille O'Neal, who looked a little uncertain at times.

It just wasn't all there. Not yet at least.

And the Cavs don't sound in the least concerned or worried about it.

As James said: "I don't want to look too much out of one game."

Random thoughts …

—There was a lot of hoopla about the game. Early pregame crowd. Lot of excitement. All that stuff. It carried over into the first quarter. But after that it was pretty much all Celtics. They are a bunch of pros, after all, and they understand how to play the game. The Cavs have shown an unnerving habit of racing to a fast start and then losing the lead and the game.

–Of course that happened against Orlando and Boston, two pretty good teams.

–There were still too many times when the offense devolved into the James-on-five game. He scored 38, but it's just not going to work every game. His late three off no movement or passes with the Cavs down 87-83 was simply not a good shot.

–Mo Williams looked uncomfortable being the third guy in the offense. Last season, he was No. 2. Now he has to pound the ball inside to O'Neal, or give it to James and let him do what he does. The Cavs need more from Williams, who looked more like the guy who struggled against Orlando than the guy who was so good in the 2008-09 regular season.

–Delonte West's absence is huge, because it screws up the guard system. Without West, Anthony Parker has to play 40 minutes, and he wasn't signed to play 40 minutes. Without West, Daniel Gibson becomes a backup point guard, and it's not his forte. Without West, the entire guard system is thrown off.

–This could be a concern all season.

–For a good part of the fourth quarter, Brown had Zyrdunas Ilgauskas and O'Neal on the floor together. Late in the game, he brought Anderson Varejao off the bench. I expected him to replace O'Neal and take Shaq's free throw shooting out of play, but he went in for Ilgauskas.

–Brown admits he's searching for the right substitutions and patterns. He admitted he didn't do a good job of working his lineups during the game.

–James had two more of those chase-down blocks that are becoming his signature.

–At one point, Ray Allen was guarding James. Could he not have done what Allen did when Allen saw Gibson guarding him and go to the low block?

–Said Shaq: "I've been around 17 years, won the first game, lose the first game … we've just got to get better. We're still a fairly new team. We're still learning each other."

Well the Boston Celtics just got better. Rasheed Wallace for two years at the mid-level exception. I kind of wish the Cavs had done that, though clearly there is risk involved. Cavs GM Danny Ferry is very good at laying low until he finds the right guy, and there are guys available (Shawn Marion, Josh Childress, Antonio McDyess). We'll see. … By the way … why is it that not a single national story I read about top free agents even lists the words Anderson and Varejao?

I honestly thought Boston would win Game 7 against Orlando, because … well … because they're Boston. They were 32-0 in Game 7s and Red Auerbach and Bailey Howell and Don Nelson bouncing free throws off the roof and Paul Pierce claiming Red guided one in against the Cavs last season (rolling eyes) and all that stuff.

The Celtics seemed to have some kind of mojo working as they won game after game even though Kevin Garnett was not playing. Cripes, it seemed like Boston and Chicago played 18 overtimes. And then they wiped out that Orlando lead in Game 5 and won and it just seemed like things were falling for them.

But Boston eventually became like Austin Powers — they lost the mojo.

That the Celtics were able to push Orlando to seven, though, says much about the Celtics and coach Doc Rivers. He got Rajon Rondo to play like a star — what's with the 15-rebound games? — and he made things work with Glen Davis and Kendrick Perkins inside and without Garnett. And … he made it work with Brian Scalabrine getting some significant minutes.

Pretty impressive run and pretty impressive heart. I won't miss them, but it was an impressive effort by Rivers and an impressive effort by his team.

1) Bib Baby apologized. End of THAT story.

2) The Magic sure know how to close out a game, eh?

I don't know about you, but if I were the father of this 12-year-old and my kid got shoved in the back by an NBA player like this, I'd have been upset too. Might not have gone to the media about it, but I'd have been upset. That being said, what's with the comments following the Orlando Sentinel report? What exactly is it about anonymous comments that make people think they can be mean and vicious, especially as it relates to a kid. I don't get it.

Norman Chad and I once worked in desks within close proximity of each other as part-timers at the Washington Post. Chad went to his gig, I'm writing here. He writes of the Celtics: "I am still scarred from a childhood of watching the Celtics get call after call and win title after title; the only benefit was that it prepared me for an adulthood of watching Duke games. For years, any deciding game of a Celtics playoff series was virtually scripted. They felt like Harlem Globetrotters-Washington Generals games, minus the bucket of confetti. Auerbach didn't pay off the referees, he simply had them 'relocated' if they didn't comply." Chad goes right down the Celtics roster, and even states why he doesn't like Eddie House (his socks) and Kendrick Perkins (apparently just because).

I take no credit for the presentation. The link is here, on www.waitingfornextyear.com.

But I do enjoy it. Thoughts?

"According to the Celtics …

"This is disrespectful.

"(This) is being a good teammate.

"This is not a cheap shot. 

"This is a good play.

"Everyone got that? There will be a test."

Dwight Howard was suspended for his elbow, but the NBA didn't agree with me on the Rajon Rondo foul. They determined he was making "a basketball play and going for the ball after a blown defensive assignment by the Celtic team," the league's Stu Jackson said.

No tears in Chicago, where they're saying "Blame Michael Jordan."

I just don't get the thinking. At all. Rondo had zero chance to hit the ball. None. All he did was swing and try to foul Brad Miller. The next time a short guy can knock the ball out of a 7-footer's hand by hitting him in the face without fouling will be the first. As Jay Marriotti asks on AOL: "If the roles were reversed — Miller as the perpetrator, Rondo as the victim — don't you think Miller would have been flagrantly flagged?"

There is some thinking that changing the call would have only caused more problems, that it would have brought the ending into question. In truth, the Bulls probably would not have won anyway. I just think the foul was flagrant.

I'm done riding this horse.

The Boston Globe reported this about Boston's game in Chicago on Sunday: "An NBA source pointed out before the game that two of the referees were Chicago natives (Marc Davis and Dan Crawford). Kennedy also was involved in an incident with (Celtics coach Doc) Rivers during the Bulls' St. Patrick's Day win in which both were fined by the league for jawing. The source also said that after the game family members of both referees departed wearing Bulls gear."

So now the league is rigging things so the Celtics lose?