The Celtics, who had problems on the road for much of the 2008 playoffs, will be the guests at Conseco Fieldhouse on Saturday, as the shorthanded Indiana Pacers look for their first win of the season.

In 26 playoff games on their way to their 17th title, the Celtics held opponents to less than 89 points per game and went 13-1 at home, and both trends have continued early this season.

But even after going an NBA-best 31-10 on the road during the 2007-08 regular season, the Celtics were just 3-9 on the road in the playoffs, failing to win a game in Atlanta and Cleveland in the first two rounds.

They'll certainly carry plenty of confidence into their first road trip of the season. After beating Cleveland 90-85 in their opener on Tuesday, Boston (2-0) held Chicago under 30 percent shooting in a 96-80 victory Friday night.

The Bulls scored just 31 points in the first half and Boston's Kevin Garnett bounced back from a tough opening game to score 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting and grab 10 rebounds.

In his 14th season, Garnett became the youngest player to amass 1,000 career games played.

"I've always taken a lot of pride in playing games and never taking games off," Garnett said. "I have exceeded a lot of the personal goals I have set for myself and I'm just enjoying this team, enjoying this year and enjoying every day that I can get up and play this game full strength."

After missing the Eastern Conference's final playoff spot by one game last season, Indiana (0-1) isn't starting 2008-09 at full strength, with Mike Dunleavy sidelined as he works his way back from knee tendinitis.

Dunleavy averaged a career-high 19.1 points last season, starting all 82 games, and the Pacers may have missed him Wednesday, but they still stayed close in a 100-94 loss at Detroit. Behind Danny Granger's 33 points, they shot 49 percent from the floor, but had 21 turnovers and allowed the Pistons to outscore them 19-3 on fast breaks.

"That is a really good team and we did a good job of hanging with them and withstanding their pressure," Granger said. "We made too many mistakes to win, but we know those are things we can improve."

The Pacers, adjusting to life after Jermaine O'Neal with newcomers T.J. Ford and Rasho Nesterovic in the starting lineup, signed Granger to a contract extension on Friday, though terms were not disclosed.

The former first-round pick out of New Mexico broke out last season, averaging 19.6 points and 6.1 rebounds while making more than 40 percent of his 3-pointers - all career highs.

None of it mattered much against the Celtics, as Indiana lost all three meetings in 2007-08. Boston earned a pair of victories in Indianapolis, twice topping 100 points there as finals MVP Paul Pierce averaged nearly 30 points in those games.

Pacers coach Jim O'Brien, the head coach in Boston from 2000-04, said he often uses the Celtics as a positive example for his team.

"They play harder than anybody in the league," O'Brien told the Pacers' official Web site. "Flat-out, they're the hardest-playing group of anybody in the league. Top to bottom, they play at a totally different intensity level, defensively, than the other 29 of us."

Saturday's game is just the second part of a tough season-opening stretch for the Pacers. After playing the two East finalists in their first two games, they face two more playoff teams in Phoenix and Cleveland next week.