Midway through the second quarter, Rondo and Paul got tangled up near the Celtics basket, and both were slapped with technical fouls. The trash talking never stopped after that.

"It started from the first time they got the double tech, and it kept going," Celtics center Kendrick Perkins said, "but that's expected. They're both talented guards, they're young and proving something. When you get a good matchup like that, they're going to go at it."

After the game, Paul was talking to Paul Pierce on the court when Rondo came up from behind and got in Paul's face. Pierce stepped between the two, but Paul tried to follow Rondo off the court. The Celtics coaching staff prevented him from doing so.

Asked what Rondo said to him, Paul replied, "I don't know. I couldn't hear him too well. It was loud in there."

Again, yeah, right. The two were only a few inches from each other. Besides, Paul looked upset.

"I just have that expression on my face sometimes," Paul insisted. "I'm a funny guy like that."

Asked if he got under Rondo's skin, Paul replied, "No, not me."

Before Rondo began with a postgame interview in the locker room, he had Celtics vice president of media services Jeff Twiss insist that no one ask him about what happened with Paul. No one did, even though that request made Rondo look like he had something to hide.

Outside the locker room, however, Rondo said, "Nothing positive can come out of it. I don't want anything misconstrued and taken the wrong way, get quoted and get fined $25,000. I'd rather not even talk about it."

Paul made 9 of 13 shots, scored 22 points and dished out eight assists. Rondo tweaked his ankle in the first quarter and finished with six points and 10 assists. The numbers meant nothing to Paul.

"As a point guard," Paul said, "you're measured on wins and losses, and we lost."

Paul may not have liked that Rondo had told Perkins the reason Paul gets so many assists is he has the ball in his hands so much. After last night's game, Paul appeared to take a shot back at Rondo when he said, "Rondo's a lucky guy to be able to play with a guy like Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, KG and Rasheed Wallace."

Rondo couldn't argue with that.

"He has to do a lot more than what I have to do," he said of Paul. "My job is easy playing with these guys."

Celtics coach Doc Rivers appeared displeased with the postgame stuff between what he called, "squaring-off featherweights.

"There's nothing wrong with having a competition," Rivers said. "The competitions are great. Then that's it."

Rondo said he got by on adrenaline after tweaking his ankle in the first quarter, but he said the ankle may be sore today.

"It's a small tweak," he said. "It's nothing major. I've been through it before."

Before the game, Rondo accepted it as a compliment when Hornets coach Byron Scott ranked him among the NBA's top five or six point guards. Rondo, however, would rank himself even higher.

"Top one," Rondo said. "Something like that. One-ish, one-and-a-half-ish. I believe I'm one of the best at what I do. That's it. That's how I play. I work as hard I can to be the best."

Rondo also wants to be paid among the best. If the Celtics don't sign their 23-year-old point guard to a contract extension by 6:30 p.m. today, he can become a restricted free agent next summer. The Celtics could match any offer from another team.

Rondo insisted that he's not worried about today's deadline.

"It's not the end of the world," he said. "People act like it's the end of the world. It's just one year. If we can't come to an agreement this year, hopefully it will be next summer. Yeah, I want to be a Celtic."

Rondo said he hadn't talked to his agent Bill Duffy for a couple of days, but planned to call him after the game. Rondo spent his time preparing to play against point guards Mo Williams, Raymond Felton, Derek Rose and Paul in the first four games.

"It wouldn't be fair to my team if I was thinking about my contract right now," he said.