Pierce sharpens focus on season opener

And captain Paul Pierce has his sights set on next Tuesday’s game, which will mark the beginning of his 12th season as a Celtic.

“I’m definitely looking forward to it,’’ Pierce said before last night’s game. “It’s definitely challenging for us, knowing the last two years we haven’t been able to win in Cleveland. This is the team we’re going to probably battle all year long for Eastern Conference home-court advantage, along with Orlando. This game is huge and it’s right out of the gate and we’ve got to be ready.’’

It will be a difficult opener, reciprocity for the Cavaliers’ visit to Boston last year as the Celtics celebrated their 17th NBA title with a banner-raising on opening night.

“It doesn’t really matter to me,’’ Pierce said. “I’m not looking at the schedule and saying, ‘I wish we were playing somebody else.’ The schedule is whatever they make it, and whatever they bring to us, we’re going to take it.

“For the most part, we are getting better, pretty much every game. We’re working on everything as far as execution defensively and offensively.

“I feel like it’s meshing right now. It’s all about the guys being willing to drop their egos, buy into Doc’s system, offensively, defensively, working into our chemistry, people not having any agendas. With some teams it happens and some teams it doesn’t.’’

Kendrick Perkins and Rajon Rondo are the only Celtic starters expected to perform tonight. Rondo scored 20 points and Perkins had 5 points and 12 rebounds against the Knicks.

Marquis Daniels (17 points) led the way for the Celtics’ reserves, who battled a mostly-starter Knick lineup in the final quarter. The Celtics rallied for a 101-99 lead on a Daniels layup off a Brian Scalabrine pass with 3:36 remaining, and were tied, 103-103, before an Al Harrington 3-pointer with 1:23 to go.

Scalabrine sprained his ankle when he stepped on a cameraman near the basket late in the contest.

“We did it last year,’’ said Rivers. “The second half of the year, we rarely had a road [shootaround]. We had them in the ballroom [of hotels]. We cut about 20 of them out; we decided to have them in the ballroom.’’

Asked why, Rivers replied, “Legs. I think if you’re done with your work, I don’t know why you need a shootaround. Guys are fresher, I think, if we walk it over right before [the game]. They pick it up and they actually have a better chance of remembering it, rather than at 10 a.m.

“Clearly, our practices this year have been noticeably better because they are later, they got more sleep, more rest.’’

“With that, all the spoils come, to the victor go the spoils, and I think he gets that. I don’t care about [contract talks]. That will be something that will be handled. I’m not concerned about it. I don’t think it will affect us. Last year it made more of an issue.’’

Rondo’s incentive?

“To win,’’ Rivers said. “If you don’t win, then there’s going to be problems with everybody. Again, I’ve talked very little to him about it, we’ve discussed it a little, but you can tell in his play that he’s not [distracted].

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