ORLANDO, Fla. -- Kevin Garnett probably would've run out at Brian Cook a time or two during his game-changing three-minute, third-quarter 3-point barrage that helped Orlando push out to a 16-point lead.

Doc Rivers misses his coach-on-the-floor in K.G. (AP)

If Garnett plays, Leon Powe doesn't get a season-high 26 minutes, doing a nice job holding his own against Magic monster Dwight Howard. Still, the Celtics aren't used to having their big men hold their own against anyone.

Opponents hold their own against them.

That advantage was unavailable because Garnett was sidelined for the first time in his Celtics tenure with an abdominal strain aggravated on Friday night, the first game where he looked around at Minnesota uniforms and wasn't wearing one.

Still, one wonders whether things would've been different had Garnett been out there on the bench and in team huddles, supplying the hands-on leadership that has become his staple since coming East. There's no legitimate reason why we should be wondering that, especially considering that he was still in the arena.

The word from the Celtics was that he didn't want to be a distraction. Realistically, how would that be possible?

Last we saw Garnett, he was coming back from the ab strain to finish off the Timberwolves, stealing the ball from Sebastian Telfair on the final possession, popping his new team's jersey in celebration of another victory. Pain had to take a number.

Saturday morning, it's time came. Sunday, it was still present, but there was a revenge game to play.

The last time Boston came into Orlando's Amway Arena, it did so undefeated. Garnett hadn't tasted defeat in his new surroundings until Nov. 18, another Sunday, one he replayed in his mind over and over because it brought back an old stranger he no longer wanted hanging around. Losing is no longer accepted and the Magic brought the feeling back.

"Kevin goes with his emotion as far as 'I can play.' He was not moving great, but he 'can play', so it did take a lot to sit him. He was upset by it, which was good," Boston coach Doc Rivers said. "Getting on the bus, he said 'hey, I'm feeling great, so when I go out and shoot, if I feel great, that means I can play, right?' So, even though I told him he wasn't, he still hasn't heard that yet, in his own mind, which is good. "Who would you rather have, a guy you have to talk out of it or a guy you have to talk into playing. I'll take that all day."

Garnett has gone full throttle through the season's first half while veterans who have put in the time in the league that he has normally find a spot or two to coast through. That's why the Celtics are always hyped to play, home or away, soaking in pre-game introductions the way rookies starting their first games would. It's his influence. That's why he's been the MVP to this point in the season.

That's also why he should've been out there on the team bench rooting them on.

Maybe it was too painful for one of the league's most emotional players not to be out there on the floor, but the chemistry the team has created has been built in part by the fact everyone pulls for one another. The Celtics went through most of the first two months of the season beating the opposition so soundly that Rivers would routinely pull all his starters in the fourth, leaving them to play cheerleader while the reserves got work in.

The spin is that Garnett didn't want to be a distraction this time around, but he probably would've been an inspiration. There were no Knute Rockne speeches and though this wasn't the place for that, it did present the opportunity for Boston's leader to lend aid where he could because like it or not, him being absent from the lineup was going to be a distraction regardless.

Whether he could've played or couldn't have played, the fact he did not forced the Celtics to compensate. They did so admirably, rallying back from a huge second-half deficit, taking the lead at one point in the fourth and falling only when Hedo Turkoglu's fadeaway buzzer-beater fell through the net.

"We weren't going to come in and make an excuse, we're going to come out and play, playing this game to win it," Rivers said. "We're not coming out here thinking 'no Kevin'. I don't feel sorry for us, it happens and you have to buck up. I thought our guys did."

Rivers admitted that after Rajon Rondo sprained his right ankle following a steal and reverse layup 22 seconds into the second half, some of his guys did start to feel down. It was only when he announced that there would be no practice on Monday, mostly because of the lack of healthy bodies, that the team loosened up and played with the reckless abandon it had been missing to that point. That's when they got back in the game.

Where was Garnett to lift their spirits? The rest of the team was out there. Where was the guy who probably has the highest basketball IQ of them all?

Assistant coach Tom Thibodeau, Boston's defensive guru, had to stand up for most of the second half directing guys where to be as Orlando surged ahead. Rotations broke down. Help defense was non-existent, often replaced by shrugs. You don't think Garnett's presence could've aided things?

The black-and-white of it is that the Celtics are now 5-5 in their last 10 entering Tuesday night's visit to Miami, which just snapped its 15-game losing streak.

"Going to South Beach," Rivers said. "Oh goodness."

There's nothing wrong with experiencing a little turmoil when the big picture is that you're transforming yourself into a title contender. Maybe they do need a little SoBe nightlife to blow off a little steam. Through an 82-game marathon, injuries pop up. Slumps happen.

Ray Allen, who didn't play in the Jan. 9 loss to Charlotte, is 22-for-61 in the rest of his team's setbacks this month, though he did start coming out of it in Sunday's fourth quarter, hitting 3-of-4 3-pointers, including the game-tying shot with 14.1 left that set the stage for Turkoglu's heroics.

Those inconsistencies come and go. Losing to the Magic a second time won't damage Boston's psyche. Stan Van Gundy called it an "I'll take it" game, adding "because they didn't have Kevin Garnett and we hit a miracle shot at the end, it was enough to win." That will be remembered if these teams do meet in a more meaningful setting down the road.

The first time Boston visited, Garnett was getting over a flu. This time, he was nursing an injury Rivers didn't want him to play through. Offensively, not having him out there created a major void. The Celtics lacked their primary post option, with Paul Pierce becoming their most effective option inside. Kendrick Perkins, who had scored over 20 points in two of the last three games for the first time in his career, took just four shots and finished with seven points.

"He finds me a lot. With him getting doubled, I get a lot of easy shots, easy baskets," Perkins said of his absent tag-team partner. "I just think we have to stick together. It's a process so we just have to stick with it and not get distracted."

Not having Garnett around to rebound and provide resistance at the basket was even more of an issue. He always knows not only where to be position-wise, but where everyone else needs to be.

The question is, why didn't he take it upon himself to contribute that leadership from the bench? That's where his absence was felt most of all.