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Going green

Last update: January 24, 2008 - 9:38 PM

GOING GREEN

Kevin Garnett's move from Minnesota to Boston last summer has changed everything for the Celtics, in the NBA standings, the financial ledgers and elsewhere:

• His No. 5 Celtics jersey is the league's best seller this season. Sales of his jersey and Celtics merchandise have tripled since the trade. Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, LeBron James and Steve Nash fill out the top five. (Garnett wears No. 5 because the No. 21 he wore with the Wolves is one of 22 jerseys retired by the team. Bill Sharman wore No. 21 while winning four NBA titles with the Celtics from 1951 to 1961.)

• The Celtics sold nearly $2 million in tickets in the hours before the trade was officially announced on July 31, and in September they capped their season-ticket sales for the first time since the team played in old Boston Garden.

• The Celtics sold out nine games during a 24-58 season that included an 18-game losing streak in 2006-07. This season, they've announced all 22 home games as 18,624-fan sellouts.

• Garnett became the first Celtic since Sidney Wicks in 1976 to deliver a 20-point, 20-rebound game. Garnett scored 22 points and grabbed 20 rebounds in the season opener against Washington.

• The Celtics' 33-7 record ties the franchise's best 40-game start, matching the 1961-62 team that went 60-20, the 1964-65 team that went 62-18, the 1972-73 team that went 68-14 and the 1984-85 team that went 63-19. The Celtics won the NBA title in two of those years, 1962 and 1965.

• The Celtics' 27-3 start (they began 8-0) matched the NBA record for best start in the first 30 games, tying five other teams. The last to do so were the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls. Four of the five other teams, including those Bulls, won the NBA title that season.