They're not the same team that huffed through seven overtime periods during the playoffs against the Bulls last April.

But even the Chicago coach probably had no idea of the degree to which Danny Ainge loaded the Celtics pantry in the offseason.

They're not so much loaded as overstuffed, if the Celtics' 118-90 win against the Bulls last night is any indication.

The Big Three sat out the fourth but still managed to score huge amounts in short but potent stretches.

Paul Pierce, with a five-trey third quarter that sent the Bulls down for good, scored 20 of his 22 points in that stretch, not missing a shot.

Ray Allen scored 18 of his 20 in the second and third quarters and moved past John Stockton and into 33rd place on the all-time NBA scoring list with 19,712 points.

Garnett, the third option in this crew, scored 16 points in 25 minutes, and Rajon Rondo finished one assist shy of his career high with 16.

Eddie House tied Pierce with 22 points off the bench, and the Celtics shot 50 percent (12-for-24) from downtown.

But there was also room for the other end of the floor to demand equal time.

The Celtics have now gone three games without allowing an opponent to shoot 42 percent from the field (the Bulls hit 41.5 percent).

For the second straight game, the opponent didn't make it out of the third quarter.

Allen followed up a 10-point second quarter with an eight-point third, including back-to-back 3-pointers that came in the midst of his one-man three-jumper run.

But the Bulls were getting hit from several angles.

Pierce, who opened the third with a 3-pointer and came back with a three-point play on the next possession, hit his second and third treys of the quarter in succession, followed by a Garnett 20-footer for a 74-45 lead for the C's.

The Bulls were mining the same low-scoring ground as the Bobcats before them when Pierce tapped them on the shoulder with his fourth trey of the quarter for a 79-51 lead.

Trey No. 5 dropped with 26 seconds left and the Celtics , finally tested by a late-quarter Bulls flurry, closed out the quarter with an 88-61 lead.

Pierce didn't miss in the third, shooting 7-of-7 from the floor, including 5-of-5 from downtown. Overall, the Celtics shot 75 percent in the period.

The pace was so pure, the Bulls scored 26 points, marking the first time since the fourth quarter of the season opener in Cleveland that an opponent broke 20 points in a quarter against the C's.

- mrmurphy@bostonherald.com