Play it again: Celtics find winning note

All that mattered was that Boston shed the stigma of being the last team in the league without consecutive wins. The NBA record books will reflect the ignominy, but the Celtics now can turn their full attention to more important matters, such as their looming five-game road trip west.

For anyone who thinks winning consecutive games is simply a small step forward in a long season, consider the postgame mood in the Celtics' locker room. Paul Pierce sounded downright giddy at the prospect of entering the so-called Christmas break with some semblance of momentum. Smiles lingered all around. Players stretched comments beyond clichés and even cracked a few jokes. Coach Doc Rivers filled his post-victory remarks with good-natured sarcasm.

''Listen, I went to Marquette, but I realize if you win one and then you win again that constitutes two," Rivers said with a smile. ''That's good for us. It's been strange when you think that it's taken us this long to do it. The positive is that our guys kept playing. Usually, when you haven't won more than one game in a row at this point in the year, you're 10 or 12 games under .500. The fact that we are where we are says a lot about the guys."

The Celtics are three games below .500 (11-14) and very much in the thick of an Atlantic Division race that makes up in competitiveness what it lacks in talented teams. Before last night, the Celtics downplayed the importance of a two-game win streak, publicly talking instead about learning from mistakes and growing as a team. But really, they wanted a solid stretch of play that carried from one game to the next more than anything. They needed it before the confidence of players young and old took a dangerous dive.

''It's good to finally get that monkey off our backs," said Pierce (game-high 30 points). ''It's something we've been talking about for a little while now. Hopefully, we can build on it. It wasn't pretty, but we got it done."