Welcome to the Garden ...

TD BANKNORTH GARDEN -- Welcome to the Garden, where the Boston Celtics (18-2) will take on the Portland Trailblazers (14-6) at 8 p.m. (note the late start time for national television).

If you can't get the Lakers, the Blazers may be the next best team to bring in for an East-West matchup. Portland is on a six-game winning streak, and the Blazers are 7-0 against the Eastern Conference so far. The Celtics, for their part, have reeled off 10 straight victories. Something's gotta give.

Everyone knows about Brandon Roy and Greg Oden (colleague Marc Spears penned a great Oden piece in today's Globe,) but the Blazers are more than two deep. LaMarcus Aldridge is the big man the Celtics really have to worry about tonight, as the former Texas star is developing into an All-Star. And the Blazers are deep, with Travis Outlaw and Rudy Fernandez sparking their bench.

Paul Pierce and Glen Davis are currently shooting on the parquet. Ray Allen has already come and gone. Pierce did a little work on a particular spin move, which he admitted was dangerously close to being a travel.

"This is all for later in the season," said Pierce. "Don't worry about that stuff right now. That's playoff [stuff]."