For another, the Celtics forward was a blank slate after the game. He had to be reminded of the shot.

``I did make a halfcourt shot, didn't I,'' he said after the Celtics' 109-95 win, getting the distance wrong.

He turned to Paul Pierce and, in a mock scolding, said to the Celtics captain, ``Why didn't you tell me, dog?'' Told the shot was actually made from three-quarters court distance, Garnett said, ``It was three-quarters, wasn't it. Whoa, that felt good.

``I was just trying to get the ball up, and if you look at the tape, I called it.''

Mikki's Golden

Mikki Moore's Golden State teammates - and some of them seem young enough to still be in AAU ball - call him OG.

That stands for Original Guy - as in Adam - not Old Guy.

``When I'm past 35 they can call me Old Guy,'' said the former Celtic forward, whose time in green ended with last May's collective burnout in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The run-and-gun Warriors - this fall's most popular NBA soap opera - are a far cry from Moore's last team. But he's been through the drill so often, he's immune to the symptoms of changing teams.

``I've been on this boat before,'' said Moore, who has reached his 15th NBA stop, including two stints each as a Celtic, King and Net. He's made a lot of friends, now including some who are especially young.

``I've done it over and over,'' he said. ``You take those friendships with you.'' As such, Moore doesn't resent that the Celtics allowed him to drift off into free agency.

``I have no hard feelings,'' he said. ``They didn't sign me because they signed Rasheed (Wallace), so I moved on. It's a business.

``There was sadness,'' Moore said of the feeling when he left, as well as when Orlando eliminated the Celtics in the playoffs. ``I didn't want it to end. But it was written that it would happen.''

Whatever his impression of his time as a Celtic, Moore chose to keep it to himself last night, for fear he might be misinterpreted.

``Nellie doesn't mind what you say,'' he said of Golden State coach Don Nelson. ``But it's different (with Doc Rivers). I had conversations with Doc when I got here last year that were misunderstood. He took things I said to be negative, when I was just asking about what this team was doing.''

Pierce `fine'

Though he suffered a left knee sprain last Friday against Atlanta, Pierce has remained true to form and not missed any time.

He played Saturday night in Indiana, and started again last night against the Warriors, finishing with a team-high 19 points.

``He's fine,'' Rivers said. ``Ready to go. It wasn't anything bad. I didn't think he recovered well in the Atlanta game, and it would have been nice to sit him out in the next game, but . . . we can't get that back.''