BOSTON - No Kevin Garnett (flu).

No Brian Scalabrine (concussion).

No problem.

The Boston Celtics (40-9) won their 11th straight game in Sunday's Super Bowl matinee. And this time they did it without the services of their All-Star forward and his backup -- who normally starts when a Boston big man is out -- as they posted a hard-fought 109-101 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The victory spoiled Celtic legend Kevin McHale's return to Boston for the first time in his second stint as the Timberwolves coach, and the homecoming -- of sorts -- for former Celtics Al Jefferson, Sebastian Telfair and Ryan Gomes, who were all part of the July 31, 2007 trade that brought Garnett to Boston and helped revitalize the Celtics franchise.

Jefferson, Gomes, and McHale all received big ovations from the sellout crowd in at TD Banknorth Garden.

Paul Pierce picked up the slack in Garnett's absence, scoring a game-high 36 points with eight rebounds and six assists to counter Jefferson's (34 points, 11 rebounds) huge effort in the loss.

Ray Allen (22 points), Tony Allen (14 points), and Glen Davis (12 points, 6 rebounds), who started in place of Garnett, also reached double figures for Boston.

Randy Foye scored 21 points for Minnesota, and former Providence College All-American Ryan Gomes netted 17 points.

The Celtics dominated the opening 28 minutes of the game, but Minnesota came roaring back in the third quarter thanks in large part to the Celtics who looked complacent early in third session while Minnesota played with the energy that it was missing in the first half.

The Timberwolves slashed Boston's 18-point lead to 73-65 with 4:01 left in the third after a 15-2 run that Jefferson capped off with a 7-foot jumper.

Suddenly it was a game again and the T'wolves were playing with newfound confidence.

Looking for a spark, Boston coach Doc Rivers inserted Tony Allen and Leon Powe into the game for Ray Allen and Kendrick Perkins (8 points, 11 rebounds). Allen immediately found Pierce inside, who missed a layup, but he scored on the putback to stop the run.

The Celtics closed out the third quarter with a 10-2 surge to take an 87-73 lead into the fourth quarter.

Jefferson did most of his damage in the third quarter, scoring 14 points in the quarter to carry Minnesota back into the game.

Minnesota opened up the fourth quarter with an 8-1 surge which made it 88-81 with 8:40 remaining, and a Jefferson two-handed dunk with 5:20 left made it 94-89, but that's as close as the Timberwolves would get.

The Celtics double-teamed Jefferson every time he touched the ball in the post from then on, holding him scoreless the rest of the way, and Pierce put the Celtics on his back, scoring seven on Boston's final 13 points, and assisting on another basket.

The game shouldn't have been that close. Boston dominated the first half and led 62-44 at halftime.

Click here for the box score.