It wasn’t easy, but the Celtics gutted out a 105-102 victory in overtime over the Milwaukee Bucks Wednesday night.

First things first, congratulations to Paul Pierce for reaching the 20,000 point plateau. He becomes the 36th player to do so, and joins a trio of current Celtics (Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Shaquille O’Neal) in the club. And he did it in style, taking over in OT and hitting some clutch free throws to finish with 28 points and get the victory.

Let’s break this one down.

The Good

Digging In: It wasn’t apparent all the time, but the Celtics dug in on the defensive end when they had to and came back from a deficit late in the fourth quarter to take the lead.

When they needed stops, the Celtics produced in OT and in the fourth quarter. Perhaps more importantly, they kept their cool (minus one KG moment) in overtime despite some adversity and pulled out the victory. That includes overcoming some questionable officiating, which had both sides flummoxed in this one.

Keep on keeping on: How about the play of Glen Davis? Another strong night with 14 points for Big Baby, and now he has scored in double digits in each game this season. The Celtics bench has been underwhelming in the first few games, but Davis has been the one constant. And despite fouling out, he still produced when necessary.

And what else can be said about Rajon Rondo? Another 15 assist night for the C’s point guard, and an efficient 7-10 performance from the floor. He is clearly on a roll.

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BUCKS 89    CELTICS 98

Well, it wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t quite what I, or probably anyone else expected, but the Celtics managed to buckle down and defend / score when it mattered most. In reality, I never got the feeling the Celtics would lose the game. The Bucks never looked great at any point. They made a few good plays here and there, but could never put it together for any length of time. Who’s complaining, though? 17-4 is what matters.

The one player that left them hanging around throughout the game was Andrew Bogut. As was mentioned in the preview, Bogut had not had a welcoming return since coming back after missing 6 straight games. As a great center in the league, it was not long before he was to get back in stride. He did that last night, and it occured despite the presence of Perk. Perkins really had his hands full last night, and was not use to some of the awkward moves Bogut posessed. Some of this can be attributed to the fact of how he was allowing Bogut to get much deeper into the post than he usually allows other centers. Still, the Bucks center hit some high difficulty shots regardless of the defense being played on him.

As for the Brandon Jennings, Rajon Rondo battle. I would have to say Rondo was the clear winner of this showdown. The rookie Jennings finished with 17 points, which is 4 less than his season average, and certainly not 55 points by any stretch. He scored his points on 19 shots, so he didn’t shoot a high percentage. His jump shooting game was non existent. He threw up some horrible looking shots from behind the mark that made me question how on earth he could be a 44% 3 point shooter. Rondo, on the other hand, ran Jennings around all night and dished the ball off for 13 assists, put in 11 points, and had 9 rebounds. With nearly a triple-double and locking down on one of the Bucks premier scorers, Rondo was the player who stood out the most to bring the Celtics to victory.

If in this game I wanted to tell you the Celtics looked the same as they did on their road trip, I would be lying. They did not look nearly as fluent, but most of this can be given by the fact of how many open shots weren’t being knocked down. Ray Allen and Eddie House really had their opportunities last night to hit open dagger threes that could really push the C’s lead, but none of them went down. Either way, the Celtics came out on top with a 9 point victory, and are expected to have a few games where they don’t play as well. They should not be assumed to come out everynight and look like a perfect team. We will have to see what happens in Washington, as the Celtics head out for 3 straight.

Rondo / Perk (Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images)