``And he made some great defensive rotations,'' said Celtics coach Doc Rivers of Scalabrine, who was also fighting off a cold. ``That's why you love him. He's such a great role player for your team. He will not play a second in one game and then come in next game and play meaningful minutes and you know he won't hurt you. He just does smart things on the floor.''

Scalabrine explained his offense by saying, ``Low (shot) clock. I had to shoot them. . . . I'm not super mobile, but when I get out there it's OK. Once I stop, my whole left side just knots up. The key is to stretch.''

The Celts were without Marquis Daniels last night because of a personal matter.

``It's just a family thing,'' said Rivers. ``I knew about it two or three days ago.''

Daniels will be back to practice before the Celts' next game, Wednesday against Utah. His absence was felt here.

``It was huge, but Scal came in and played well for us,'' said Rivers. ``But especially in that first half when Paul (Pierce) got into foul trouble and you had to give Ray (Allen) a rest and they were pressuring Eddie (House), we needed another ballhandler on the floor and we didn't have one.''

'Sheed speaks up

Rasheed Wallace was well in character last night. He picked up a technical foul between the first and second quarters. A minute and a half into the new period, Scalabrine was called for a questionable clear path foul.

Terrence Williams missed both free throws, and after each Sheed shouted his now famous phrase: ``Ball don't lie.''

Unfortunately for Wallace, it was telling a bad long-distance tale. He missed all four of his 3-point shots after going 0-for-6 from the range Friday. . . .

The Celtics' 20 steals last night were an NBA season high. . . . Rajon Rondo had five, two off his career high.

Missing pieces

Rivers got to reminisce with his former Hawks coach (and current Nets broadcaster) Mike Fratello last night. Jersey's depleted lineup brought make some memories.

``We actually had a game in Boston with eight, and then eight the next night,'' said Rivers. ``(Fratello) asked me if I remembered, and I said, `Yeah, I loved it. I got to play the whole game. I couldn't come out even when you yelled. It didn't matter. You had to keep me in. It was awesome.' But obviously that's a tough situation for them being shorthanded.''

Tough is putting it mildly. Devin Harris (strained right groin), Courtney Lee (strained left groin), Keyon Dooling (hip surgery), Yi Jianlian (sprained right MCL), Jarvis Hayes (strained left hamstring and Tony Battie (sore right knee) are out with injuries.

But wait. There's more.

Chris Douglas-Roberts was diagnosed with the swine flu (H1N1 virus) and was quarantined for about a day. Each Net must now take one dose of Tamiflu a day for the next 10 days.

``The rotation's easy,'' said coach Lawrence Frank. ``You go from having a full team and (ticking off) everyone to now everyone's happy. They're all playing.''