``I never thought we were in the woods or out of the woods really,'' coach Doc Rivers said after last night's 118-86 rout of the Nets. ``The point I was making before we lost in that stretch is that I didn't think we were as good as we were playing, and when we were losing we weren't that bad.

``All we want to do is keep trending in the getting-better direction, and I thought during that stretch we were kind of just staying in the same spot.''

Having lost to the New York Knicks and Charlotte Bobcats in the rude run, the Celtics are taking no victory for granted. But a fair look at these last three wins would note that two of them were over the Toronto Raptors, one of the more disappointing teams in the NBA. Last night the Celts hosted the New Jersey Nets, who, while making some nice strides, still showed up at the Garden with a .500 record. Blasting the Nets to smithereens is what the Celtics were supposed to do, but they've had a little trouble living up to their own expectations lately. The Celtics are not about to be lulled into a false sense of superiority by this triple scoop.

``It's not back, but it wasn't back when we were winning,'' Rivers said. ``We want to get to a level where we think when the playoffs start that we can win. So that's what we work on every night, and you can definitely see signs of us trending in the right direction. ``It's always more enjoyable to win. But for me as a coach it's more enjoyable to play right. Even when you're winning, if you're not playing well or right, it's not that enjoyable, because you know if you keep doing that, when you need to play well you won't.''

Voila. Christmas Day against the Los Angeles Lakers and most of the eight games that followed.

``I thought we had a really big bump in the road maybe this last couple of weeks with consistency, something that we didn't have a year ago,'' said captain Paul Pierce, who has been a torch on offense despite being clearly hobbled by a hyperextended right knee. ``But maybe it's something that we needed - who knows? - just to kind of give us a gut check. That's something we haven't had, because the regular season went so well for us a year ago. We really didn't have any bumps in the road. But when you go through something like that, you really find out what type of team you are.

``The four-game losing streak and losing three of four games out West, just being on the bus, being in the hotels, you find out more about one another. And what you've seen is this team is really together, regardless of what we've gone through. And this is something that we can use, especially down the stretch going into the playoffs, just getting to know one another a little bit more than in the past because it was such a smooth ride a year ago.''

Like the economy, things may get tougher for the Celtics before they get better. They know they could still use an outside shooter and a tall guy, and there is a little more than a month of shopping days before the trade deadline. They know they are not as ready for a playoff showdown with the Cavaliers as they hope to be.

But Rivers put on a bold front when asked if these last few wins help to ward off any doubts that might creep into the Celtics psyche.

``The only people that have doubts are outside our locker room,'' Rivers said. ``That doesn't affect us at all. They had doubts last year, too. And we're fine with that.''

And they're a little more fine with the world than they were last week.

- sbulpett@bostonherald.com