Good talking-to helps James

"I had a long talk with myself and I said I've been sacrificing my offense trying to keep everyone involved, trying to keep everyone happy," he said, after the Celtics' 126-112 win over Seattle last night at the FleetCenter. "But I understand I can also be a threat offensively. I just have to continue to stay focused. If I miss a couple of shots I just have to stay aggressive."

James did just that against a soft Seattle defense as he recorded a career-high 24 points on 10-of-20 shooting and added three assists in the Celtics' third straight victory.

More important, James's hot hand from the outside (4 for 8 from beyond the arc) allowed captain Paul Pierce (36 points) to have some open room from which to work, and it helped the rest of the Celtics get some easy baskets as the team shot 57.7 percent.

James knows the role of a point guard. He knows he's not supposed to be launching shots every time down the court. But if the chance is there, as it often was last night, he has the ability to either sneak through the paint for a layup or hit from the outside.

"By me staying aggressive it doesn't mean me taking the shot all the time," he said. "What it means is that I have to stay aggressive, getting other people involved by attacking the basket, and then getting open shots for Paul and open shots for [Vin Baker]."

James has averaged a shade over 18 points per game during the winning streak.

"We're starting to come together," he said. "But I don't think we will show our real identity until the second half of the season."

James's play from the point has enabled Pierce to shoulder less of the offensive burden. It has also allowed Jiri Welsch (17 points) to quietly slide into the starting five and be productive.

"Now if I'm aggressive offensively and I'm knocking down shots, when they try to trap Paul they really can't trap off of me," James said. "So now Paul is in a one-on-one situation and it's helping him offensively also when guys are stepping up and hitting shots."

James believes the loss to Phoenix last Friday, when the Celtics blew a 29-point lead at home, coupled with the delayed flight to Denver, helped bring the team together and was the spark to the winning streak.

"I think that the West Coast trip we just took was a good one for the team because there were so many things going against us," he said. "Even when we were on the plane for [what felt like] two days, everyone counted us out. Everyone wanted us to make some excuses and say we only had a quick 45-minute nap before the game and that's the reason we lost.

"We had to stay mentally strong and [the win over Denver Sunday] showed our toughness. Then we beat Utah the next night and that showed our toughness also. I think coming home with those two wins gave us confidence."

Now the Phoenix nightmare feels like it was six weeks ago rather than six days ago.

"In the NBA you're only as good as your last game," he said. "That's what's great about this league -- you don't have a long time to keep worrying and thinking about a bad loss like the Phoenix loss. It was a bad loss for us, of course, but I can name a couple of bad losses we had this year that don't tell how good of a team we really are."