Posey hit the hardwood, just like his team.

The Celtics may have cheered their former sixth man when he received his championship ring during a brief ceremony last night, but no amount of sentimentality would keep them from their 14th straight win, 94-82 over the Hornets at the Garden.

The Celts tied the fourth-longest win streak in franchise history (joining the 1957-58 and 1985-86 teams).

They extended their franchise-record start to 22-2.

And, to top it off, they tied the fourth-best start in NBA history for a team with only two losses (joining the 1993-94 Rockets and the 1990-91 Trail Blazers).

But last night was also about a marquee matchup - the sort that now drives Rajon Rondo.

``The thing I'm happy about is that they're calling it a matchup,'' Celtics coach Doc Rivers said, prior to tipoff, of Rondo's duel with Chris Paul. ``Last year when they played against each other they didn't call it anything. The fact that they're calling it a matchup means that Rajon has moved up.''

Not last night, though.

In addition to basically doubling Rondo in points (20 to 10) and lapping him in assists (14 to two), the playmaker Byron Scott calls the best in the NBA made his coach's words shine.

And if Rondo was guilty of thinking too much about his assignment, no one is worried.

``I don't know,'' Rivers said of what Rondo was thinking. ``I just think this was one of these old games for Rajon, where he was walking the ball up the floor. But he'll get it back.''

Games aren't won on a single matchup, however. And despite Paul's near-impeccable performance, the Hornets simply couldn't survive the overall eruption of Celtics firepower.

Their 14-game win streak is dotted with games like this, the sort where the Celtics rebound from a bad first half. In last night's case, that meant shrugging off a 39-point, 40-percent shooting half with a 17-4 run in the third quarter.

``New Orleans is a great team,'' Paul Pierce said. ``They had a couple of bad losses, but you have to understand that they were one game from winning the West a year ago. They're definitely a contender, so it's not a thing where we're expecting to blow teams out every night. They're well-coached and understand the game. With Pose over there they understand what we do over here.''

Even that additional knowledge wasn't enough, though.

Pierce knocked the wind out of New Orleans by scoring 13 of his 28 points in the third, and the big shots kept coming from a variety of sources after that.

Eddie House's second trey of the night was good for a 75-66 lead with 10:32 left and his third stretched it to 82-69 less than three minutes later.

House, now playing in Rondo's place, had found enough of a groove to basically settle the issue.

``Going into the game you would have thought (Rondo) would have been the better defender on Chris Paul,'' Rivers said. ``For whatever reason, it was Eddie tonight.''

Though Posey later drew a foul from Pierce on a distinctly Pierce-like play - an up-faking 3-point attempt that left the Celtics captain groping in midair - the swingman's 2-for-3 effort from the line still left the Celtics up 82-71.

The Hornets made a brief comeback with a 7-0 run that included a Paul three-point play. But Rondo hit two free throws for a 91-82 edge with 2:09 left. Just to be sure, Garnett tip-dunked a Ray Allen pass on the next possession. An angry Paul charged into Kendrick Perkins, the two had words, and they might as well have bid each other good night.

- mrmurphy@bostonherald.com