Given his druthers, Celtics coach Jim O'Brien would have wanted his team to have been busier lately.

Four weeks into this NBA epoch, the C's are playing in only their ninth game of the season and will play 13 in all during November.

``I'm not crazy about having played only eight games right now,'' he said. ``You can lose a little bit of your edge by having time off.''

O'Brien has pondered the possibilities and how this period of relative inactivity might be a blessing in disguise.