Shelden Williams attempted to get position, Mo Williams hit the floor, and a little regular-season heat broke out in the middle of the last exhibition game. Celtics players, on their way to the locker room, briefly stepped onto the floor to break up the skirmish.

Considering that these two smoldering foes open the season on Tuesday night in Cleveland, the Celtics might want to screen those calls from the league office, should the incident get reviewed.

C's coach Doc Rivers wasn't worried.

``There was no time on the clock,'' Rivers said. ``There was no issue there. Their whole team was on the floor, too, because they were going to the locker room. So there isn't a problem.''

There was no problem with the way the C's played, either. In one of their best games of the preseason, the Celtics saw their bench get the better of the Cavaliers starters, including LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal.

Kevin Garnett had asked to play and was turned down by Rivers. Paul Pierce made the same request and was allowed off the bench for 13 minutes (11 points).

``Ray (Allen) didn't even bother to ask,'' Rivers said of his other star player.

Contrast that with the other side, where James (18 points) played 29 minutes with the same passion he'll bring on Tuesday.

The win was important for the C's bench, with Marquis Daniels putting together an impressive 17-point (7-for-10 shooting), five-assist evening.

``I see stuff that ya'll don't see from (the bench players) in practice, and I've seen it since Day One,'' Pierce said. ``I'm not surprised at the way our second unit moves the ball, because they're all veterans who know how to win.''

Glen Davis, bothered by back spasms after taking a charge from the Knicks' Al Harrington on Tuesday night in New York, didn't play.

West with Cavs

Delonte West was on the Cavaliers bench for only his second exhibition game, the first coming during Cleveland's visit to Pittsburgh on Monday night.

West had missed the majority of training camp while dealing with ongoing issues stemming from a bipolar disorder. The former Celtics guard was also arrested during the summer on weapons charges, after police in Maryland pulled West over on his motorcycle and found him in possession of two handguns and a shotgun.

``I think Delonte is all right, man,'' Pierce said of his ex-teammate. ``He's a little different, that's understood. But people who are close to Delonte know, and I still speak to Delonte, everybody loves him. Everybody loves to be around him.

``I know he has his issues on and off the court, but anybody who knows Delonte loves him.''

Welcome back

Multiple reports that league referees will return to duty on opening night was received with a certain degree of relief yesterday.

``That's great, I just don't know any of the current faces we've been seeing (with the replacement officials),'' Davis said. ``It will be good to see Dick (Bavetta), Violet (Palmer) and Joe (Crawford) again. We're all a big family in the NBA, and they're a part of it. Some of those D-League refs were good, I thought. They definitely need to do some workshops with the league guys to get better, but they weren't bad. The problem is that we're different players than they're used to.

``The regular guys have been around for awhile. They've seen a lot of players grow. They know our moves. It's just really different when a ref hasn't seen you a lot. And you also know how he works a game, what he allows, that kind of thing.''

Some, however, were taking a wait-and-see approach.

``I want to save my money, so we'll see,'' Rivers said. ``But it will be great for our league if it happens.''

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