And, well, let's face it: Any time a rookie gets his name mentioned in the same sentence with Earl the Pearl, it makes sense to check out said rookie.

To me, it's a Ted Williams thing. The 20-year-old Splendid Splinter was so explosive as a rookie in 1939 - a .327 batting average, 31 home runs, 145 RBI - that those who saw him that year knew they were seeing one of the greats.

So I went to the Garden to see if Jennings might be one of the greats, but greatness does not come in a nice, neat, microwavable package, and along came Kevin Garnett to remind us that, while it's fun to invest in rookie phenoms, it'll always be the tried and true veterans who power the engine of a big league sports franchise.

Look, young Jennings had a fine game, scoring 17 points. But this is a Celtics team on a roll right now, and the roll continues. And what also is continuing is the Kevin Garnett Health and Wealth Tour. The big guy scored 25 points in the Celtics' 98-89 victory, making it eight straight victories for the Green.

And speaking of streaks, make that three straight games in which Garnett scored 20 or more points, and four of the last five.

While we can quibble over shin splints and other minor maladies, what we are seeing now is the Kevin Garnett we did not see last spring. And when he's good, when he's good, he makes it difficult to focus on the promising rookie on the other team.

That's what the great ones do: They force you to follow them, focus on them. So it was last night.

OK, sure, Garnett ladled out some postgame porridge about how ``each guy is giving 100 percent,'' and that ``we watch film and we try to correct mistakes and stuff like that.'' And so on.

But most players, when they are truly on, are truly good. When Garnett's on, he's truly memorable.

``You know, I really don't even pay attention to my shot,'' he said after the game. ``I just know it good. Physically, I feel good. I feel a lot more explosive. But everything I do is in the course of the offense. It's nothing sparks, it's nothing shiny, it's nothing glossy. My mindset is more defensive than offensive right now. I'm not even thinking about the offense right now, to be honest with you.''

Pause.

``But it does feel good coming off my hand right now,'' he said. ``I'm just trying to be aggressive.''

If there was a subplot to last night's game, it was that Rajon Rondo scored 11 points in the fourth quarter. Given that both he and Brandon Jennings are products of Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, it's safe to say there must have been some bragging rights at stake.

Even Garnett took notice of Jennings, saying, ``He's explosive. He knows the game. You see the maturity in his game. I like him. He seems to be poised. It's not about the potential, it's about the growth. To be continued.''

As for Garnett, there's not going to be a whole lot of growth in his game, not at this point in his career. That's the bad news. The good news is that that last line - ``to be continued'' - also applies to Garnett.

We're seeing now what we didn't see at the end of last season, which is why, this season, the Celtics have lost only four games.

The sports connoisseur in me still wants to see Brandon Jennings score 55 points. But three straight 20-point games from a future Hall of Famer, that's pretty good too.

- sbuckley@bostonherald.com

STAFF PHOTO BY MATTHEW WEST

PUMPED: Kevin Garnett pounds his chest after sealing last night's Celtics win against the Bucks.