Jason Collins got the official word from head coach Doc Rivers about 50 minutes prior to tipoff on Wednesday: He would be starting for the first time as a Boston Celtic.

With the C’s mired in a three-game losing streak and in need of yet another rotation shakeup, Rivers turned to the player he’s used less than any other this season and Collins delivered by impacting several key areas in Boston’s 103-91 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night at TD Garden.

There was no highlight dunk for Collins, no stellar block or nifty steal along the baseline; he didn’t gobble up every missed shot or ignite a scoring run for Boston. But he did set hard screens for his teammates, make the proper rotations on the defensive end, look to both take charges and challenge Cleveland’s looks around the basket, and, above all else, bring some professionalism and toughness to a team that needed a sense of accountability.

Whether Collins is a long-term solution at the starting center spot remains to be seen, but in the more immediate context, he delivered exactly what Boston had been missing recently.

via Greg Payne of ESPN Boston