C's try to turn their attention to season

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WALTHAMOne of Kevin Garnett's favorite catch-phrases is that he's no different than anybody else when it comes to most matters.

So when it comes to the Chris Paul trade talk?

Yes, Garnett has also been among those following it closely.

"Everybody is paying attention to the Chris Paul situation," Garnett said on Tuesday.

And within that focus has been an increasingly close eye paid to NBA commissioner David Stern, whose role in the Paul trade scenarios has been greater because the Hornets are owned by the NBA.

It was Stern's call to strike down a three-team deal that would have sent Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers - a deal that he said afterward was turned down for "basketball reasons." And after Stern asked the Los Angeles Clippers to pony up more players and include an unprotected draft pick in the 2012 NBA draft for Paul, the Clippers walked away from the deal entirely.

Garnett has seen this play out throughout the free agency period.

Heck, he and the rest of the NBA players saw the same tactics from the owners while negotiating a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. One of the union's biggest issues throughout that process, was that the owners seemingly wanted more from one bargaining session to the next.

So to see the Hornets struggle to get a trade done for Paul, with Stern leading the way for the ownership group, doesn't surprise him.

"I don't know why everybody is shocked," Garnett said. "I think Stern has been pretty adamant about when he wants to do things, and how he does things. And now, everybody has a voice about it, or an opinion about it."

For Paul Pierce, seeing what's happening in New Orleans is a reminder of just how different things can be when the league is directly involved in approving deals.

"He (Stern) runs it, just like anything you own, you're going to have a final choice of what changes are going to be made," Pierce told reporters on Tuesday. "That was kind of like different kind of circumstances knowing that the NBA owned the New Orleans Hornets. If they didn't, then that trade probably goes through."

But that's something the Celtics aren't worried about since the C's have been out of the Paul sweepstakes for a few days now.

Instead the Celtics are more concerned with trying to get everyone on the same page as soon as possible, well aware that their preparation time is at a premium.

You can add Garnett to the list of Celtics who feel a bit rushed this season.

"Absolutely," Garnett said. "What you see, we're in a rush league right now. Timing is everything and chemistry is something that you just don't throw in the frying pan and mix it up with another something and throw something on top of that and fry it up and put it in a tortilla and put it in a microwave, heat it up and give it to you and expect it to taste good."

He added, "For those who can cooky'all know what I'm talking about. If y'all don't know what I'm talking about and can't cook, this doesn't concern you."

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