BOSTONAs Kevin Garnett greeted the media scrum after Wednesday's game against Dallas, one of the first questions he was hit with involved his unusually high number of minutes played.
He acknowledged Boston's 117-115 double overtime win was an exhausting one for him and then quipped, "I'd probably been a lot more tired if we lost."
But the Celtics managed to escape with a two-point win, in part because of Garnett's 16 points in a season-high 40 minutes. Boston also got a season-high 34 points from Pierce who logged 44 minutes of court time.
"I don't want that, but it had to happen tonight," said Celtics coach Doc Rivers.
It was the most Garnett had played since logging 41 minutes against New York on March 4, a 115-111 overtime win for the Celtics.
"He held up," Rivers said.
Garnett seemed to be holding up well all game, although there was some thought on Rivers' part to take him out briefly in the second overtime session.
But Garnett wasn't having any of that, not with the Celtics so close to getting a much-needed win over a quality opponent like the Mavericks.
"We have this thing in practice where you go defense and then you go offense," Garnett said. "I was figuring if I was, you know, play the regular minutes and I earned the right to play in overtime, then let me play.
He added, "I know how to gauge myself. I know how to say I'm tired. They were giving plenty of TV time-outs. That's what you love about playing on TV, ... so I was using all that to my ability and it worked."
That said, Rivers said he was still considering sitting Garnett for a minute or so in the second overtime.
"Really, when he didn't answer that probably meant he wanted to sit a minute and I just left him out there," Rivers said.
Like too many games to count this season, this was another one in which Garnett's absence on the floor was felt in some fashion by the Celtics.
Boston was plus-2 with Garnett on the floor and broke even when he was off, in the first.
The Celtics had a two-point lead to start the quarter with Garnett in the mix, and that lead soon increased to six points by the time he left the floor. When Garnett returned in the quarter, Boston's lead had taken a slight bump up to eight points without him.
Getting more steady contributions from backup bigs such as Jared Sullinger will be critical to the Celtics steadily improving this season while also winning games.
Boston also got major minutes from Rajon Rondo who played 53 on Wednesday.
Although Rondo is considered to be in great shape, the physical impact of playing so many minutes will take its toll on any player.
Celtics coach Doc Rivers said his biggest mistake against Dallas was keeping Rondo on the floor for too many minutes.
"I just thought he got tired," Rivers said. "You know, I didn't give them that normal rest two minutes before the fourth and let him get some rest."
But Rivers never imagined that Wednesday's game would be a double overtime battle.
Logging so many additional minutes did affect Rondo's game, according to Rivers.
"I thought that had an impact on him and on his speed in the game," Rivers said.
Despite the heavy minutes, Rondo didn't seem the least bit fazed by it all when he addressed the media afterwards.
"We just had to be mentally prepared," Rondo said. "It was a grind game for us and them. But obviously we got the victory."
And with that victory, the Celtics will get some much-needed rest today with Rivers giving the players the day off as they travel to Houston later this afternoon for a Friday night matchup with the Rockets.
"Whenever you have an 8 p.m. game you're taking the (next) day off, anyway," Rivers said.