"It's not life or death," Rondo said. "I don't put too much into it."

Rondo shook off his foul-shooting woes to score 18 points and lead the Celtics with 12 assists and 7 rebounds in a 109-95 win over Golden State at the Garden.

"I've just got to shoot it," Rondo said. "I just have to work through it. It'll come. I've been shooting one way my entire life. It doesn't really matter. I've just got to keep shooting the ball."

Former New Jersey nets center Chris Dudley owns the NBA record with 13 consecutive misses. One of the reasons Rondo, a career 62.8 percent free-throw shooter, has done so poorly this season is that he hasn't been to the line often enough to develop a rhythm.

Dudley, on the other hand, missed his 13 in a row in the same game. He clanged 17 of 18 in all on April 14, 1990, and finished last in the league that year at 31.9 percent.

Ray Allen, who set a Celtics record by shooting 95.2 percent at the line last season, dresses in the locker next to Rondo's at the Garden, but Rondo didn't ask for his help until before Saturday's game at Indiana. Rondo wanted to know what Allen thought about at the foul line. Then, while Rondo shot free throws between drills in practice on Tuesday, he again asked Allen for help.

Allen told Rondo that a lot of his misses were line drives, the same problem Paul Pierce has when he misses.

"So I said, `Shoot the ball up in the air and just give it a chance to always go in. Use the loft of the ball, get it in the air,'" Allen said.

He urged Rondo, at the end of practice, to try and make swishes to improve his loft. Rondo lofted the ball more last night, but still missed 3 of 4.

Allen also cautioned Rondo that his adrenaline is pumping so hard, he needs to calm himself down, take a breath, then shoot.

Allen said he doesn't offer help until asked because a player can't be helped until he's ready.

"If a guy is going to come to me, I'm there," Allen said. "If you need me to be in the gym for you, I'll be in the gym for you."

No NBA do-overs, either

Celtics coach Doc Rivers wished he had sat Paul Pierce out of Saturday's loss at Indiana after the captain sprained his left knee the night before against Atlanta, but he wasn't going to kick himself over not doing so.

"We know this week, you don't get do-overs," Rivers said.

Still no finishing touch

Rivers said he's more concerned about bad finishes than slow starts. The Celtics led in the fourth quarter in each of their three losses this season.

"I don't think we're a 48-minute team yet," he said. "I just don't think we are. We have to work to get there."

Is it fatigue?

"It's everything," Rivers said. "I could be (fatigue). It could be focus, execution. I don't know what the answer is yet. Usually, it's focus and concentration. We get a lead, and we lose it because we get comfortable, but we've got to get to that point where we finish out things. We've got to finish out a practice."

Bell won't toll for Warriors yet

Warriors guard Raja Bell is scheduled to travel back to Charlotte today and undergo wrist surgery soon.

Bell was acquired from the Bobcats on Monday, with Vladimir Radmanovic, for Stephen Jackson and Acie Law. Bell could be sidelined up to five months.