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But injuries and illness have given some key rotation players additional if unexpected court time. And O'Brien clearly has his favorites, as demonstrated in Sunday night's victory over the Nuggets.

In Denver, four of Boston's starters played 34 or more minutes. Vin Baker (14 minutes) was the exception, because he missed the second half with flu symptoms. O'Brien employed more traditional substitution patterns than would have been anticipated just a few weeks ago.

Pierce led the way with 40 minutes at the Pepsi Center, while Jiri Welsch played 35, and Mike James and Mark Blount each logged 34. Meanwhile, Walter McCarty (15) had his minutes off the bench increase somewhat.

Raef LaFrentz, who continues to struggle with right knee tendinitis, played just 13 minutes in Denver but had to start last night against the Jazz when Baker was a scratch. LaFrentz logged 18 minutes against Utah, but three teammates cracked the 30-minute mark: James (38), Welsch (35), and Pierce (30).

Points being made While it may not always appear that way, Pierce has enjoyed more scoring support than usual this season. Boston entered last night's game against the Jazz with five players averaging double figures. Against the Jazz, Pierce was only third in team scoring with 14 points, as Eric Williams (19) and James (18) carried the load. The offense has been productive in recent games, though that was easy to overlook as the Celtics lost 8 of 10 before halting a four-game skid in Denver. In the last eight games, there were only two occasions when the Celtics failed to shoot better than 45 percent. The Celtics shot a spiffy 51.4 percent last night . . . Boston finished its fourth back-to-back set of the season last night, though just its second that featured road games on consecutive nights. This season, seven of the back-to-backs start at the FleetCenter and finish on the road. There are four that start on the road and finish at home, and six feature two road games. Before last night, the Celtics had won each of the opening games and lost each of the second games . . . Williams played in his 500th game last night . . . Baker rested at the team hotel and rejoined his teammates for the plane ride home last night. Pierce and James are the only two Celtics to have played in all 21 games this season.