The Boston Celtics continued their winning steak by beating the New Jersey Nets 112-101 on the road on Saturday. The Celtics’ "Big Three" connected for 73 points to push the team to its fifth straight win, thus making Boston the only undefeated team in the NBA.

Their best start in franchise history came about in 1987-88 when, led by Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish, the Celtics won the first six games of the regular season. Now, with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen leading the way, history may repeat itself and the Celtics fans are surely hoping it will.

The guy who led the Celtics in scoring this time was Paul Pierce, who finished with 28 points. Ray Allen followed with 28 points and Kevin Garnett added 18 points and 14 rebounds.

Their coach, Doc Rivers, attended his father's funeral which took place just a few hours before the game against the Nets. However, he showed up in time to run the show.

"It says a lot about us," Pierce told reporters. "We didn't know if Doc was going to be here. We've got two rotation players out (injured) and we responded. We are learning more about ourselves each and every day."

For the Nets (4-2), Richard Jefferson scored 28 points while Jason Kidd had 17 points, 12 assists and six rebounds. Vince Carter recorded 17 points, but unfortunately had to leave the game early in the third quarter due to a sprained ankle.

"I'll see how it feels tomorrow and we'll go from there," said Carter. "I don't want to put a timetable on it."

It could be awhile before Carter plays again. The X-rays were negative, but the Nets won't know if they can count on Vince in the next couple of games until he is meticulously examined today.