BOSTON -- The Celtics have their swagger back.

If there were any doubts after Boston beat Cleveland in both teams' season opener Tuesday night, captain Paul Pierce put those doubts to rest before the Celtics made their TD Banknorth Garden regular season debut Wednesday night. He grabbed the microphone moments before tip-off, promised the crowd that the Celtics are going to do big things this year, pointed up to the 17 world championship banners hanging in the rafters, and said the Celtics need to add another one this year.

The crowd erupted in cheers, and the Celtics then proceeded to rout the young but hungry Charlotte Bobcats, 92-59, to improve to 2-0.

"We know what our goals are, it's not like we are fooling anybody," Boston coach Doc River said when asked about the Celtics' chances of winning the NBA title. "We are going after it."

"We have a confident group because we work so hard in practice," Pierce said. "We are a confident group but we are not where we want to be … we are still a work in progress."

After building an 11-point halftime lead, the Celtics opened up the second half with a 15-0 surge to end any hopes of a Charlotte rally. They led by as much as 30 after a Ray Allen free throw with 4:06 left in the third quarter put Boston up, 63-33.

"We just became who we are," Rivers said when asked how the Celtics were able to go on a 15-0 run. "We moved the ball. We let the ball find the open man. I thought we spent the first half searching for our shot on our own…We made easy passes to each other and that's how we should play every night."

Ray Allen led all scorers with 18 points, but it was Pierce who scored 10 of his 15 points during Boston's third quarter surge.

Not to be outdone, Rajon Rondo had a double-double with 10 points and 11 assists.

Everything was going extremely well for the Celtics until about 4:20 remaining in the third when Kevin Garnett (10 points, 7 rebounds) went down hard while trying to corral a loose ball.

Charlotte guard Boris Diaw beat him to the loose ball, and Garnett slipped while trying to stop suddenly. He grimaced, got up limping, slowly walked up the court, and was then taken out at the next whistle.

Not wanting to take a chance since the Celtics were up by 27 points, Rivers did not put Garnett back into the game. He remained on the sidelines and iced his surgically repaired right knee.

Garnett wasn't the only player injured on the night.

After spotting the Celtics a 22-13 lead by the end of the first quarter, Charlotte guard Raymond Felton was forced to leave the game when Garnett landed on his head during a skirmish for the ball, driving it into the court with 5:32 remaining in the first half and the Celtics leading, 32-27.

Felton cut his lower lip so severely that he had to get 15 stiches (10 on the outside and five on the inside), but he returned to play in the second half, finishing with nine points.

The Celtics closed out the first half with a 10-4 surge after Felton got hurt.

Boston coach Doc Rivers was happy with the win, but the Celtics still have a long way to go.

"We still have work to do but I like my team," Rivers said.

The Celtics' defense, the foundation of the team, is clearly in mid-season form. The Celtics forced 21 turnovers, scoring 27 points off of them. Their aggressive and swarming, in-your-face defense, limited the Bobcats to 31.1 percent shooting from the field, and they limited them to only 59 points.

"I thought it was great," Rivers said of Boston's defense. "It was very active. We got a ton of deflections. It was as high as you can possibly get it at halftime and I thought we carried it over into the second half and contested shots."

Offensively the Celtics struggled at times when they were not scoring in transition. They knocked down 43.4 percent of their shots, but because of their defense, they were able to lead from start to finish.

"I thought in the second half our offense moved the ball and we were a lot better," Rivers said.

"From this point on it's a process and you have to get better each game," Rivers added.

Gerald Wallace was the only Charlotte player in double digits in scoring with 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Charlotte coach Larry Brown blamed himself for the loss.

"Our team wasn't prepared. We weren't ready to play. That's nobody's fault but the coach," he said. "We got a lot of guys scared to death and that's tough."