Big Three Debut at Gahden

October 18, 2007

Ray Allen worried about getting lost on his way to the arena, and sure enough, like Kevin Garnett, he found the task of locating TD Banknorth Garden akin to riding a motor scooter through a rotary in Rome.

``I saw it. I just couldn't quite get to it,'' Allen said after the Celtics ran their preseason record to 3-0 with a 101-61 rout of the Knicks.

Garnett laughed and gave his own account of the same experience.

But both, finally safe in the parking lot, were about to enjoy a Garden debut that was right out of a dream.

Even if it was just an exhibition game.

``Crazy,'' Garnett said of last night's experience, complete with a teeming crowd of 17,506 that fell just 1,018 short of a sellout. ``Paul (Pierce) kept telling us about the atmosphere here. It was going to be off the chain, we knew that. We've played here before, but as the opposition.

``I didn't know it was going to be like this for a preseason game. We're looking forward to a regular season game. It was a great atmosphere, a great basketball atmosphere.''

Cets fans received their first up-close look at the two players who are about to take a massive burden off Pierce's shoulders.

The Knicks gave in quickly, and by the second half, with the Celtics scrubs on the floor, Garnett was manning a position in front of the bench on one knee, like he was about to be subbed in again.

Get used to it. If this is what Garnett is like during an exhibition game, his intensity level during the regular season is going to be unimaginable.

It all pointed in a different direction from what Pierce, praying for the start of the regular season, spoke of before the game.

``Even since coming back from Europe, even though we've only played two games (before last night), it's like, `When is the season going to start?' '' he said. ``That's what your head is on right now.''

Pierce, in his need to look forward, is forgetting something. Moving from last season's 24-win death march to this hype has been like escaping the Arctic Ocean for a hot tub.

``We're getting a feel for some real different intensity,'' center Kendrick Perkins said. ``Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Eddie House and James Posey all bring a different type of feeling to this team.

``Now we're going to get it done on the court and love each other off it, but the main thing is the business we can now do on the court. I just feel a lot of excitement from how these guys are approaching the game. It's all coming from the best. You can see it from the Big Three from tip-off in these games.''

Even Pierce had to admit the intensity already is at a high regular-season level.

``It's definitely different,'' he said. ``I've just come from a group of guys (last season) just trying to get the job done to a group of guys who really know what's at stake.

``An opportunity like this doesn't come around too often. Every day I come to practice, I think about the opportunity that we're going to have. There will be a lot of energy in this building. We should probably expect a playoff setting for every game this season.''

Even if it still is the exhibition season.

``The first two games we played had more of an exhibition feel to it, and then tonight, it definitely had that feel,'' Allen said. ``Paul said they always have something going on with the Knicks, and I definitely sensed that. This building was almost like what it's going to be in the regular season, because the fans came out to see this team. They were so excited, and that transferred right along to us.''