Allen provides a burst of energy

He was the fifth man to come off the Celtics' bench in last night's 103-98 loss to the Atlanta Hawks, not that it mattered much to Tony Allen.

After missing the first 31 games of the season rehabbing his right knee after undergoing surgery in mid-September, Allen figured he'd ease his way back into things. That certainly seemed to be the case when coach Doc Rivers summoned Allen to check into the game (for Raef LaFrentz) with 21 seconds left in the first quarter.

Before the game, however, Allen didn't have any idea how many minutes he'd get. He was certain of one thing, though. He wasn't going to play 40 minutes.

But how about 30?

''Thirty minutes?" Allen said, somewhat surprised by the sum of his playing time. ''That was a lot of minutes for the first game back, but I was in there and did what I could do."

As expected of a player who missed almost half the season, Allen appeared to be a little rusty on the offensive end. He scored 9 points on 3-for-11 shooting, missing several layups, including one at the halftime buzzer that would have extended the Celtics' 50-43 lead.

''He came in and got in the passing lanes and gave us some energy," Ricky Davis said. ''We went small and put TA in the game and he gave us a lot of energy. But he looked rusty."

Allen acknowledged he was lacking the explosiveness he showed last year as a rookie out of Oklahoma State, especially when Josh Smith blocked his shot as he tried to score a breakaway basket that would have tied it, 96-all, with 3:22 left.

''I didn't like not having the strength in my shot and getting my shot blocked," Allen said.

But he seemed to make his biggest contribution on the defensive end, grabbing five defensive rebounds (seven overall) and coming up with two of Boston's nine overall steals.

''Tony was fantastic," Rivers said afterward. ''Probably played him too much. But he said he felt great after the game."

Asked what he liked most about Allen's first game, Rivers said, ''Just [his] defensive energy. I don't know how many layups we missed tonight as a group -- Tony, Raef, everybody. We had great looks and it's weird when we have great looks and they don't go in."

But, Rivers said, Allen more than made up for his offensive lapses with his ''ability to trap, ability to roam, ability to get his hands on the ball."

Said Paul Pierce of Allen, ''He gave us a big lift. I'm happy to see him out there. He looked really comfortable out there. I like the things he is able to do. I think the first few minutes he started to be more aggressive, started to show some of the old Tony that he had from a year ago.

''It's just good to get him back out there, get him into some game-time action, and he's only going to get better."

So what was Allen's final summation?

''I felt pretty good," he said. ''Hopefully, I'll just take this game and go on to the next one with my head up . . . I did what I could do and I just tried to take advantage of my minutes."