Of all the things that could possibly be said about the Celtics – and there are many people outside of Boston who have said many terrible things about them over the last few years – their own coach picked the one word that hurts them the most. He called them “soft.” And he was right.

“Honestly, I haven’t used the word soft in four years,” Doc Rivers told reporters in New York after his team pulled off another second-half comeback, their second in as many games. “At halftime that word came out a lot. We didn’t make one adjustment. Not one.”

In the first half against the Knicks, the Celtics looked less like themselves and more like -- pick a team at random here -- the Raptors. They were slow to the ball, had little life under the basket and flopped when they should have been physical. On offense, they spent most of their going one-on-three and hoisting contested jump shots instead of working their sets and getting a good shot.

In the second half, well, let the coach tell it. “In the second half we played like Celtics,” Rivers said. “We defended and we shared the ball.”

The Celtics beat the Knicks, 96-86, but the score that resonated the loudest was the second-half tally in which they beat the Knicks 59-35. (Click here for a full recap).

This is what the Celtics need to be and this is what they have been trying to get back to for the last month. Their style is not pretty. It’s hard and rough with a couple of elbows and floor-burns mixed in for good effect. Also, a dozen stitches: five for Carmelo Anthony and seven for Ray Allen.

The Celtics will rarely beat you playing pretty basketball, although they do have the talent to pull it off from time to time. Their true game is making it uncomfortable for the opposition to play theirs and in the second half, it was the Knicks that looked dazed and confused.

This is what they have been building toward and maybe getting pushed around and outworked was a necessary reminder. To win in the playoffs takes more than talent. It takes effort and the desire to throw your body on the ground to steal a possession like Kevin Garnett did when he went flying to force a jump ball from Amar’e Stoudemire.

That play was far from the only one. Rajon Rondo snuck in behind Stoudemire and was able to deflect a loose ball off his hand. Delonte West emerged from a tangle with the ball and went crashing to the floor for his troubles.

Rivers calls them 50-50 plays and there are many nights in the NBA when it’s just not worth the effort. That’s understandable given the 82-game season, but it’s one thing to talk about knowing those kind of plays are important and it’s another to make them. The Celtics made the plays, which is their trademark.   

“It was great for the new guys to see that too,” Rivers said. “There’s a sense of urgency that everyone our team has to play with. We’re getting there with the new guys but we’re clearly not there yet.”

Maybe not, but it’s starting to come together.

Here are three more points:

RAJON RONDO UNBURDENED

Rajon Rondo didn’t have a great game. Not by his standards. But he played with the same energy and creativity that has been his signature over the last four years.

He dished out 12 assists, which broke an odd streak of eight straight games where he failed to deliver a double-digit assist game, his longest since March of 2008. He also took 15 shots, and while he only made six of them, his aggressiveness stood in stark contrast to recent performances.

Rondo got his night off to a solid start by taking the ball to the basket in the first half and pulling off three “Rondo moves,” the kind only he can make. He then played the entire second half and didn’t look tired.

Whatever it is that’s been bothering Rondo, whether it’s been injuries, minutes or just the drag of the long season, he seemed more like himself than he has in weeks. There is no one that can replace what Rondo gives the Celtics and while he wasn’t even the best player on his own team (that was Garnett) there’s no way the Celtics would have won this game without him.

IT’S ALWAYS ABOUT THE BIG FOUR

Lost in the hand-wringing about all the new faces is the simple reality: The Celtics will go as far as their four All-Stars can take them. That was true before the trades and free agents and it’s even more true now.

Nenad Krstic may not be the defensive answer at center, but that’s why Glen Davis is around. Troy Murphy, Carlos Arroyo and Sasha Pavlovic aren’t likely to be rotation pieces, baring injury or some other catastrophe. No matter if one, both or none of the O’Neals are playing, the Celtics run will be determined by Rondo, Allen, Garnett and Paul Pierce.

Of the 80 shots the Celtics attempted against the Knicks, 59 of them came from the big four. They made 29 of the 37 shots and scored 69 of the 96 points. They grabbed 29 of the 48 rebounds and accounted for 15 of the 17 assists.

There are only 240 minutes to go around in a basketball and the Big Four will play 140 of them every night in the playoffs, give or take. Others will have to contribute, of course, but the core four of the Celtics will ultimately decide their postseason fate.

PLAYOFF PREVIEW?

It’s possible that the Celtics and Knicks will meet in the first round of the playoffs. There are a number of other scenarios at work, but if the Celtics fail to get the top seed in the Eastern Conference, it seems likely that these two teams will meet again.

The Knicks are reeling under the heavy weight of Gotham-sized expectations and the Celtics will undoubtedly be the heavy favorites in a seven-game series, but is there much doubt that a playoff series between the two will feature heavy drama?

Already this season we have had the game of the year in the NBA. That was back in December and while the Knicks have a totally different look to them now, the matchups would be a ridiculous amount of fun for a first-round series.

Paul Pierce and Carmelo Anthony. Garnett and Stoudemire. Rondo and Chauncey Billups. New York’s offense vs. Boston’s defense. A playoff matchup would go a long way toward establishing an actual rivalry.

The feeling here is that the Celtics should go to great lengths to avoid such a scenario and try to wrestle the top seed from the Bulls where they can ease into the playoffs with an Indiana or a Charlotte. But for NBA fans, this would be a dream scenario.