Guardian Rivers gets assist

With his help, high school player granted eligibility

AMHERST - Winning their opening exhibition game was not the highest priority for the Celtics last night.

No starter other than Patrick O'Bryant, who was subbing for Kendrick Perkins (shoulder surgery), played more than 19 minutes in a 98-92 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers at the Mullins Center, and coach Doc Rivers missed the game to attend to family business in Florida. Guard Sam Cassell also was absent to be with his ill grandfather in Baltimore.

The minimizing of playing time for the regulars has been programmed for the preseason, and will continue when the Celtics face the Cavaliers in Providence tomorrow and the Rockets in Manchester, N.H., Saturday. But Rivers's absence was unexpected, as he successfully appealed the high school basketball ineligibility of Adam Jones, of whom Rivers and his wife, Kris, are legal guardians. Before that, Jones was homeless, Rivers said.

Jones can play basketball with Rivers's son, Austin, a star sophomore on the Winter Park High team.

"This means the world to me," Rivers told the Orlando Sentinel. "It is so important for Adam and his future. The only motive here was to better this kid's life. That's all it's ever been about.

"I'm just so glad people saw it that way and not read into it something sinister. There was nothing sinister about what we were doing for Adam."

Assistants Armond Hill and Tom Thibodeau coached the Celtics last night.

"That's the kind of guy he is, what you see, that's Doc," Hill said before the game. "He's a great person and a great family man, and he passes that on to all of us."

Ray Allen said the team was rooting for Rivers to successfully appeal Jones's ineligibility.

"Doc has always been a leader," Allen said. "There are born leaders, and he is one who sets an example, or precedent, in a lot of kids' lives."

Fast start

The Celtics picked up where they left off in the Finals, scoring the first 9 points last night and holding the Sixers scoreless until Thaddeus Young's jumper 2:44 into the game.

The Celtics earned a 16-4 lead on Rajon Rondo's layup with 8:11 remaining in the first quarter, but their intensity level decreased. The Celtics struggled with different combinations of reserves, faltering against the Sixers' pressing defense and failing to match the quickness of guard Louis Williams, who scored 27 points in 26 minutes. The highlight for the Celtics' reserves was a follow dunk by Bill Walker over 6-foot-10-inch Theo Ratliff for a 54-42 lead with 1:28 left in the first half.

"Philly's a very hard-playing, unselfish team," said Thibodeau. "When they sub, it doesn't drop off. They have energy players, they are very athletic . . . those type of teams, they keep pressure on you and if you let your guard down for a second they're going to make you pay for it."

Perfect return

Darius Miles was 3 for 3 from the field for 6 points in a 16-minute stint in his first game since April 2006 with Portland. Miles missed the last two seasons after microfracture surgery on his right knee.

"I couldn't sleep last night, I was so nervous," Miles said. "I'm not an option on this team, I'm just a role player. But that's fine with me. I love the way this team plays defense.

"This was my first time going five, six days in a row [in practice] in two years. I knew once I got past that Sunday practice, I'd have a day off. I've had no pain, no nothing. It's just been discomfort."

Miles started his career as a teenager with the Clippers, who this week fired general manager Elgin Baylor.

"That's the way this league is, some people are in a position, and they just feel they need a change," Miles said. "I wish him luck, his wife, his family. Maybe some other team will pick him up."

Lucky leprechaun?

Allen said Michael Jordan told him during a golf outing this summer that the Celtics were lucky to win the championship.

"MJ said we were lucky with the first one," Allen said. "[He said] the first championship is luck and if you want to build something, you guys have got to win it again. That's like his way of saying congratulations, because he's sitting on six of them. He said we won't get to six, but you guys were lucky."

Feels like home

The game was a Philadelphia home game, the Sixers choosing the Mullins Center because of a tie-in with Comcast president Peter Luukko, a sports management graduate from the University of Massachusetts.

Frank Dell'Apa can be reached at f_dellapa@globe.com.