Why?

Because the cavalry has arrived.

The 2009-10 Celtics will be deeper and more experienced. Two major contributors were added to bolster the roster in forward/center Rasheed Wallace and guard/forward Marquis Daniels. Both were starters a year ago in Detroit and Indiana, respectively, and they're going to come off the bench for the Celtics this season.

After starting the season on an outrageous pace (Boston started 27-2 and finished with 62 wins) only to finish the year losing to Orlando in the second round of the playoffs with Garnett injured, the Celtics come into this season with a sour taste in their mouths.

"We didn't win it last year," point guard Rajon Rondo said just before training camp. "We felt we should've won it regardless if people go hurt last year. We still should've got the job done which we didn't, and we're even better this year, I believe."

The starting five returns with Ray Allen joining Rondo in the backcourt and Garnett, Paul Pierce and Kendrick Perkins forming the frontcourt. While Leon Powe and Stephon Marbury are gone, the Celtics bench is solid.

The ability of the reserves may be the key to preserving the legs of Pierce (12th season), Allen (14th season) and Garnett (15th season).

If Wallace, Daniels, Eddie House and Glen "Big Baby" Davis provide quality minutes and newly-acquired forward Shelden Williams, rookie guard Lester Hudson, J.R. Giddens, Tony Allen, Bill Walker and Brian Scalabrine can fill in the gaps, it will go a long way towards Boston's post-season hopes.

"I think it's going to help out tremendously," Pierce said of Daniels' addition. "For one, last year we just didn't have the depth at the wing position. We had a couple rookies, Tony Allen getting hurt ... You bring in a guy with some experience. He can play three positions, the one, two and the three. So it gives us more depth because you're talking about a guy who started last year and we're going to ask him to come off the bench."

One area head coach Doc Rivers has harped on for several years has been adding talented big men.

During the championship run the Celtics talked P.J. Brown out of retirement. Last year, they tried both Patrick O'Bryant and Mikki Moore.

Now, Rivers can turn to Wallace, a four-time all-star and veteran of 14 NBA seasons.

"That was the number one thing for us, at least for me," Rivers said. "Sitting with ( Celtics President of Basketball Operations) Danny (Ainge), I told him the number one thing we need is length. You had to have it. You could see it in the playoffs manifest itself. You could obviously see it in the finals. I think the Lakers' length alone was so distracting it created some great defensive advantages for them.

"Speed and all that is great, but when you get to the basket and there's a big guy you have to shoot over, it affects the game. When you have three and four of those guys, it really affects the game. We missed that last year. Even before Kevin went down, we had Perk and Kevin. After that we had solid players but we didn't have length. Now we have three guys."

The prospect of the Celtics making significant strides on defense should be startling. Last year, they allowed the third-fewest points per game and had the best field-goal percentage defense in the NBA.

On paper, it seems like the Celtics may have done enough to leap over the rest of the Eastern Conference, but an NBA championship isn't won until June, and it certainly isn't handed out in August, September or October.