Garnett was the 2004 NBA MVP award but just once has made it past the first round of the playoffs. Allen is an eight-time All-Star who has made the playoffs once since 2001. Pierce is the only Celtics player left over from the team that went to the 2002 Eastern Conference finals.

"Individual accomplishments are great," Pierce said. "But we're in this for bigger things, for bigger goals."

Combined with point guard Rajon Rondo and center Kendrick Perkins — and a whole bunch of spare parts — the Celtics ran away from the rest of the NBA before a 10-game stretch in January when they picked up five of this season's nine losses.

The Celtics are 13 1/2 games ahead of Toronto in the Atlantic Division, and three games ahead of Detroit in the race for the best record in the NBA. They are 11-1 against their own division and 16-0 against the other conference — the fearsome West, which has won six of the last eight NBA titles. They play at Denver on Tuesday night.

"Some teams struggle to get 40 wins in a whole season," Allen said. "We put ourselves in a good spot. It's in our control. But we want to do better than just control it. We want to own it."

Even after Garnett went out with a strained abdominal muscle Jan. 25, the Celtics kept winning. In fact, they've won seven of nine without him, including five straight heading into the break.

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The 6-foot-1 Rondo has averaged seven rebounds a game since Garnett was hurt. Glen "Big Baby" Davis had a nine-point, eight-rebound game against Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs. Leon Powe, who essentially didn't play before Garnett was injured, has had a pair of double-doubles and came close three other times in the nine games since.

"Maybe at the end of the day, in a crazy way, it might be a good thing for the other guys, getting confidence," Rivers said. "Kevin's getting rest. So maybe that's a good thing."

But Rivers would just as soon not have too much of this particular good thing.

"We talked about it when Kevin went down, that if everybody pitches in and does their job, we can cover up for it for a short term," Rivers said. "We know for the long term it wouldn't be good."

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