Celtics keep it together

"Very, very good win, because that's a good basketball team," said Rivers, after his mercurial squad had stopped the Sonics' winning streak at nine with its best all-around effort of the young season.

The Celtics not only threw a blanket over Seattle's white-hot shooters, who made just 36 percent from the floor and under 22 percent from 3-point range, they also put six men in double figures. And the chief bombardier was Ricky Davis, who came off the bench like a cornrowed Havlicek to score 25 points.

"Hopefully that will be the [role], me coming in and being the sixth man," said Davis, who was 10 for 14 from the floor and 4 for 5 on 3-pointers.

Which is exactly what Rivers was thinking when he put Jiri Welsch (12 points and 8 rebounds) into the starting lineup for the first time this year, hoping Welsch would feel less pressure to produce. "It was my miscalculation on putting Jiri with that second unit that was so young," said Rivers. "That's asking too much of him."

What Rivers asked Davis to be was Vinnie Johnson. "Just go for it," the coach told him -- and Davis wasn't bashful. He scored two baskets within 37 seconds to double the lead to 8 just before halftime, then hit three jumpers -- from 23, 19, and 12 feet -- in the final 1:49 of the third quarter to put Boston ahead, 75-58.

That took the scoring load off Paul Pierce, who still managed 17 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, and a couple of steals in his 42 minutes. Added to a dozen points apiece from Gary Payton and Mark Blount and 11 from Raef LaFrentz, that was more than enough production. In fact, Boston's field goal percentage (56.9) was its third highest in the last five years.

The question going in was whether the Celtics could keep up with a Seattle team that was averaging more than 100 points a game and was off to its best start (9-1) in 11 years.

"They're an explosive team," said Pierce. "If you allow them to go out and shoot 3-pointers, they can blow you out in a hurry. We did a good job of getting up in their faces."