"We forced us to put our starters back in," Rivers said of the Celtics' play. "I'm not going to even get into our bench right now. But I'm just going to say [the reserves] had a lot to do with [the Trail Blazers'] made shots. We had a lot to do with it."
Except for that 6 1/2-minute siesta, the Celtics (19-2) maintained the form that has led to an 11-game winning streak. They can tie a team record for best start to a season at Indiana tomorrow, set in 1963-64 and matched last season.
The Celtics led by as many as 25 points in the final quarter, but the second unit stumbled in surrendering a 16-2 run. The starters returned to close things out, a Garnett dunk off a Rajon Rondo lob the exclamation point with 1:57 remaining.
"I loved their defensive effort, I loved their energy," Rivers said of the Celtics' play in the second and third quarters.
Portland tried to establish an inside presence in the early going. But the Celtics matched the Trail Blazers' strength and turned the tables on their offensive-board aggressiveness.
"Once we stopped turning the ball over," Rivers said, "and started dominating the glass, which was the key - I mean, they're not a good offensive rebounding team, they're the best in the league."
The Blazers had six offensive rebounds (and 34 missed field goal attempts) through three quarters.
After the reserves pumped the advantage to 25 points on Leon Powe's layup nine seconds into the final quarter, the Celtics seemed free to start preparing for the Pacers. In fact, Paul Pierce's 15-footer, which gave the Celtics an 80-61 advantage with 7:22 to play, would suffice for the victory, but only because the starters would return to cut off the Blazers' scoring supply.
"Our theory was, if they're a great offensive-rebounding team, that means they have numbers on the glass," Rivers said. "And if we can rebound, that means we should have numbers in the fast break."
It helped the Celtics' cause that Oden had more fouls than points (5) for Portland (14-7).
