Back on Jan. 19, Magic general manager Otis Smith called out the Celtics with a comment to the Orlando-Sentinel that hit them right where they live. “They act tough,” Smith told the paper in part of a wide-ranging interview. “They’re not really tough. They act tough.”

That comment encapsulated every gripe opponents have about the Celtics and their style of play. Not just that they’ll defend until death or the 24-second shot clock expires, but that they’ll tell you about it while they’re doing it and maybe throw in an elbow or two for your troubles.

There’s a line there, and it’s not always visible. The Celtics play right up to that line and they not only cross it, they dare you to go over it with them and straight into the abyss.

That’s simply who they are and it’s worked, more or less, for the last three and a half years. Love them or hate them, despise them or admire them -- feared, loathed, respected, whatever your stance, that’s the Celtics.

Two and a half weeks after Smith’s comments, the Magic came to Boston and got beat physically and mentally. They picked up three technical fouls. The Celtics had none. They tried to muck it up with the Celtics and were left stuck in the mire.

“Extracurricular BS,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy called it. “They create it and other teams can’t play through it.”

On Sunday against the Heat, there was more. It started when Zydrunas Ilgauskus leveled Rajon Rondo with a perfectly-fine, but very-hard screen and continued when Kevin Garnett did the same to Miami’s Mike Miller on the other end of the floor.

“It’s a physical game,” Garnett said after the game. “It’s the East. It’s what it is. Everybody’s trying to gain an advantage. It’s nothing dirty. It’s not on my part. It’s very clean. It’s up to the bigs to talk and communicate with the point guard.”

It escalated – but only a little – when Dwyane Wade delivered a running shoulder to Garnett after Ray Allen had buried a jumper. Wade was assessed a Flagrant-1 foul, Garnett made both free throws and a seven-point lead grew to double digits.

On the Celtics scale on “incidents,” this was merely a blip –but in a game that came down to the final possession it was a meaningful little turn of events.

“We didn’t react and we actually got points because of it,” Doc Rivers said. “I was very proud, because that’s not what we’ve been.”

No, they haven’t, but that seems to be changing. Whether it’s a coincidence or not, ever since the Mavericks game when Garnett reacted harshly to an intentional foul on a breakaway by the Mavs’ JJ Barea, the Celtics have done their business and then walked away from the fracas after the whistle. For the most part.

After the Wade foul, Rondo poked his head into the Miami huddle where he was shoved aside by both Wade and LeBron James.

“I was just trying to see the play,” Rondo said after the game. “Nobody called a timeout. They just drew a play up on the court. I wasn’t trying to start anything. I just thought I could get my head in there and see what play they were drawing up.”

All things considered, Rivers would have rather that his point guard stayed away, but he did understand his rationale.

“I didn’t like the huddle thing, honestly,” Rivers said. “I don’t think we ever need to do that stuff. Having said that, the point he was making, it wasn’t a timeout and he was absolutely right. We still don’t like it. I didn’t. But he was right and it’s tough to argue.”

Rivers had a larger point about the Heat game, and it was about toughness and the way his team plays.

“We’re just playing defense,” he said. “Defense is physical. Defense is hard and the other teams don’t want you to play it. So they lose their cool and we can’t react. I’ve said this forever, but toughness is taking the hits and walking away.

“Toughness isn’t reacting,” Rivers continued. “That’s a weakness. We’re going to make tough plays. We’re going to set hard picks. We’re going to defend. The game’s going to be physical and we’ve got to accept that in return as well.”