BOSTON -- Ricky Davis is ready for the start of the NBA season. The question is whether the rest of the Celtics are.

Davis, whose explosive offense is going to be badly needed by the young Boston team this winter, was spectacular at times last night as his team closed out preseason play with a wild 101-100 victory over Cleveland at The Garden.

The Celts made the exhibition finale fun as they rallied from a 16-point fourth-quarter deficit and won on a runner from the lane by rookie Gerald Green with 13 seconds left.

By that time, though, both sides had long since gone to their benches. All those who will work when the regular season opens next week already had done their work, and none better than Davis.

Playing only in the first half, Davis poured in 19 points, capped by back-to-back dunks off the break late in the half that brought on the loudest cheers of the night.

The performance followed a 24-point effort by Davis one night earlier in an overtime loss in New Jersey. The scoring from the veteran was a welcome sight for coach Doc Rivers.

Rivers still has not decided whether to start Davis (as he did last night) or bring him off the bench to provide offense. He just knows he needs Davis to put points on the board when the regular season opens Wednesday, with New York in town. Davis had averaged only 10 points in the Celts' first six games.

"He's been doing everything that we've asked him to do," Rivers said. "He's been really disappointed with the way he's shot the ball, really that he didn't have room to shoot the ball.

"We're running the same stuff. He's just been doing it a little too fast, which is not anything different with Ricky," Rivers said. "Fast and Ricky go together very well . . . He's finally got the rhythm he's been looking for. That was important for us. That was really important for us."

The Celts are going to need all the veteran help they can get. They finished the preseason 3-5. They still are putting many pieces in place. At one point early in the second quarter last night, Davis was on the court with Al Jefferson and Kendrick Perkins, both of whom could still be in college, along with Ryan Gomes and Orien Greene, both of whom just got out of college.

The kids staged a wild finish to win against Cleveland's bench, but they also were the ones who fell behind. The Celts led, 56-48, at the half as Paul Pierce (17) and Mark Blount (10) helped Davis score.

Many of the Celts still are learning on the job, and the point guard situation is the most vital. Delonte West started there again last night, but he left with a sprain of the left mid-foot. He's listed as day-to-day.

Greene, a second-round pick, continued to show some positives, although he, too, is obviously very much a work in progress. Dan Dickau, the veteran obtained in the offseason, has been dropped to third string at the point. Rivers was candid on the reason why -- his defense.

"He's struggled. That's a position where you can't do that," Rivers said. "We talked about it today for a long time. I told him what he has to do better -- stay in front of the ball."

The Celtics need to cut only one player (likely Curtis Borchardt) before the opener. Rivers indicated last night that, at the start of the season, at least, it is unlikely the team will send any of its young players to the new developmental league. For one thing, the developmental league does not start for several weeks. Even more importantly, the Celts have a favorable schedule.

"We've got a great month," Rivers said. "The first month we're at home so much."

That will allow for much practice time, Rivers noted, so that youngsters such as Green, Greene and Perkins can benefit more by staying with the Celtics than going anywhere else.

The new rules allow all 15 players to stay on the roster (any 12 can be active for a game) and allow teams to send out players to the developmental league (the team Boston is affiliated with will be in Florida) up to three times during the season.