Sonics the tonic for ailing Baker

He will not, said coach Jim O'Brien, miss tonight's game with Seattle for the same reason.

"Vin should be OK," O'Brien said. "Basically, he told [trainer] Ed [Lacerte] that it would take a mighty force to stop him from playing."

Baker, of course, came to the Celtics from Seattle in July 2002 and missed the Sonics' lone visit to Boston last February with what at the time was termed heart palpitations. It was the last game before the All-Star break. Baker returned to face the Sonics in Seattle in the first game after the All-Star break, but by the end of the month, he had been suspended and went into rehabilition for alcohol problems.

Monday's game in Utah was the first Baker has missed this season. He was able to go only 14 minutes in Denver.

A Banks withdrawal

Marcus Banks missed his first game of the season as well in Utah, registering a DNP-CD. O'Brien said he wanted to see more of Jiri Welsch at point guard against the Jazz. "I think Marcus had a good game against Denver," O'Brien said. "It's not a knock on Mike [James] or Marcus or anything. If you've got a guy like a Jiri with his ridiculous assist-to-turnover ratio [42 assists to 16 turnovers] we'll look at that periodically. We want to try and make sure we have three point guards." . . . How dominant were the Celtics in the Mountain Time Zone? Not only did they shoot 50 percent or better in both Denver and Utah, they also led for the final 37-plus minutes in Utah and trailed for the last time in Denver midway through the first quarter. O'Brien said the victory over the Jazz was the team's most complete game of the season. Utah coach Jerry Sloan didn't disagree. "They were too good for us," he said. "They were terrific. They beat us in every category you want to put out there." The Jazz make their only Boston visit a week from Friday . . . The Celtics swept the Sonics last season and have taken five of six from Seattle . . . The Celtics are cautioning fans attending tonight's game that traffic around the FleetCenter may be congested because of an afternoon labor rally in the area.