About a month into the season the new-look Celtics seem to be settling into their team roles. Whereas Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen all took turns posting big games over the first few weeks of the season, in recent weeks they have settled into a more common pecking order. They each average about 20 ppg, but now they are all likely to be within a few points of that if the game is close whereas if it is a blowout one or more of them may score single digits. They each take turns in the offense, so there don't appear to be many 40-point explosions on the horizon for any of them.

Pierce has become the primary offense initiator. He seems to expend the most effort among the three on offense, handling the ball the most and doing the most dribbling in the half-court set. This leads to him getting the most assists opportunities of the crew. Garnett, on the other hand, seems to be embracing a role as more of a traditional score or swing the ball big man. His assists numbers have really fallen in the past weeks, though if they gave a stat for "most-screens-set-that-led-to-open-shots-for-teammates" he'd be among the league leaders.

Garnett has taken ownership of the defense. He seems to spend most of his energy at this end of the floor, and he leads the team in boards, blocks, and steals. But unlike in seasons past with the Timberwolves, Garnett is getting plenty of help in all three areas so he isn't posting as dominant of numbers as he seemingly could. Pierce also chimes in with good steals numbers.

Allen seems to have become the security blanket for Celtics Coach Doc Rivers. While he doesn't own one end of the court the way Garnett and Pierce do, he is the one getting the most minutes. He is asked to be the back-up point guard when Rondo is on the bench, he is often guarding the best offensive wing on the opposing team, and he is the bail-out option on offense when everything breaks down (i.e. when in doubt, kick it out to Ray for a 3-pointer).

So what is the end result? In recent weeks all three are playing slightly fewer minutes, but Garnett is playing a lot fewer minutes (34 per night over the last 9 games). Also, all are ceding some of the things that they are good at to the other two to make the team run smoother and perhaps stay fresher. This might help them in their post-season aspirations, but for fantasy purposes this could lead to small downgrades in the roto rankings for all three of them moving forward.