"There was some medical give-and-take yesterday as the Celtics warmed up for Patriots watching with a hard practice. Kevin Garnett looked good in a full session, but Shaquille O'Neal spent his time in the trainer's room after slipping on snow and ice yesterday morning. (Shaq was treated for an adductor injury in his upper leg; no word on the condition of the earth.)

The Celts are hoping Garnett, who suffered a strained right calf Dec. 29, will be able to play tonight, and they certainly need him against the Magic.

"He was great," said coach Doc Rivers. "He went through the whole practice. I think Kevin will go (tonight), but, again, we went through practice to see if he could go (tonight) — meaning we'll know that by (today). If he feels good, he'll go. If there's anything, he will not go.

"I would probably put it back to 50-50, because we went up and down a little harder on purpose just to see how his body felt. If he feels good, he'll play. If he doesn't — even if it's a little — he will not play."

Elsewhere on the banged-up-big-man front, Kendrick Perkins (offseason ACL surgery) went through his first full practice, and Jermaine O'Neal rode a stationary bike in preparation for a second opinion on his sore left knee today.

"I think we'll know pretty soon," said Rivers of O'Neal. "I think we're leaning toward no surgery obviously if he wants to play. But maybe someone will say they can do it and he can be back in four weeks or something like that, then that'll be different. I don't know."

For now, the Celtics will be overjoyed if they can get Garnett back onto the court. They've gone 6-3 without him (6-4 if you factor in him missing most of the game against the Pistons when he was hurt going up for a dunk), which isn't bad. But clearly he is the binding to their defensive book.

"It's losing your best defensive player and your best talker and your quarterback," said Rivers. "Outside of that, it's not that big of a deal."

As one of 82 games, this evening's affair with the Magic isn't a major deal percentage-wise. But the teams have split their meetings in the last two postseasons, and there's the more recent matter of the Celtics' Christmas collapse in Orlando a few weeks ago. The C's appeared to have that one in hand before the Magic took the fourth quarter, 29-15."