But the Lakers will hit the Hub looking to bust things up again.

When the Lakers hosted the C's back on Christmas Day, they snapped a Celts' 19-game winning run. Kobe Bryant scored a game-high 27 points in the Lakers' 92-83 victory, handing coach Phil Jackson his 1,000th NBA win.

Time has marched on, but the enormity of that setback lingers with Pierce.

``We have extra motivation this time because they broke our streak the first time,'' Pierce said. ``Hopefully we won't let them break our streak again.''

The Lakers also will be a motivated bunch. The last time they hit Causeway Street, they were annihilated in Game 6 of the 2008 NBA Finals, 131-92, and watched the C's celebrate their 17th world championship.

``To be not only beaten, but humiliated, in a game like that to end the series,'' Lakers coach Phil Jackson said before his team's win last night in Toronto, ``it was in your face and everybody remembers that. There's a certain element of, you know, we have some serious work to do.''

Pierce was the lead man in the Celtics' dress rehearsal in Philly Tuesday night. With Kevin Garnett out with the flu, Pierce notched a game-high 27 points to go with seven rebounds and six assists, despite early foul trouble. Pierce also made the deciding dish to guard Ray Allen, who calmly buried a baseline 3-pointer with 0.5 seconds remaining to steal the win.

``We've gone through the whole year where we've experienced games like this and we know not to get rattled,'' Pierce said. ``Just being in this situation before definitely helps, and good teams find a way to win, and we did, especially without Kevin.''

The Lakers in general, and Bryant, in particular, are on their own hot streak. The Lakers have won eight of their last nine after beating the Raptors last night. Bryant scored 36 points in the victory, and poured in a Madison Squre Garden-record 61 in the Lakers' win at New York Monday night.

Celtics backup power forward Glenn Davis enjoyed a career night Tuesday in Garnett's place, notching his first double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds in just under 42 minutes. With Garnett back, Davis will see limited minutes, but he can't wait to be part of the action.

``We have to get it going and getting,'' Davis said. ``Our big fellow Kevin Garnett is back and we need to get ready for a war. I can't wait for him to get back to play. It's going to be a playoff atmosphere, it's going to be sold out and it's going to be a great game.''

Celtics notes

Garnett was at the Celtics facility yesterday for a workout, but a spokesman said his availability for tonight won't be updated until this morning's walkthrough. If there are no further problems, he is expected to play. . . .

Eddie House's attempt to get into the NBA's All-Star Weekend 3-point shootout has been rejected. The Celtics guard was left out of the six-man field announced yesterday for Saturday's event.

Atlanta's Mike Bibby, Miami's Daequan Cook, Indiana's Danny Granger, Toronto's Jason Kapono, Orlando's Rashard Lewis and San Antonio's Roger Mason were selected by the league to compete in the shootout.

- rthompson@bostonherald.com