A bouquet of green roses topped by a single, unlit cigar sat in Red Auerbach's empty seat at the new Boston Garden on Wednesday night as the Celtics opened the season without their patriarch for the first time in half a century.

A pregame tribute showed video of Auerbach, accompanied by Frank Sinatra's "My Way," running his teams through drills, berating officials, barking out plays and settling back in his chair to light up a victory cigar.