Boston ? Kevin Garnett shouted across the locker room in mock anger at teammate Brian Scalabrine, who was peering into the spaghetti platter at the buffet table after the Celtics’ latest win.

“I just wanted to see what was in it,” Scalabrine pleaded.

Then he joked in a low voice, “I let him down.”

From morning practices to post-victory pasta, Garnett quickly has established himself as the leader of the NBA’s only unbeaten team that won just three playoff series the past 15 seasons. There is a lighthearted camaraderie but little time for jokes at practice where Garnett brings such intensity that teammates don’t want to disappoint him. Last season, the Celtics were the joke.

They had the second worst record in their 61 seasons, 24-58, and lost a franchise- high 18 straight games. Paul Pierce and a bunch of youngsters were going nowhere. Something had to be done, especially after Boston missed out on the chance to draft Greg Oden or Kevin Durant in the lottery.

So they scrapped the youth movement and traded for veteran all-stars Garnett and Ray Allen. Suddenly, there is hope that the future will be like the distant past.

The original Big Three of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish won the franchise’s 16th championship, still the NBA record, in 1985-86. The new Big Three of Garnett, Pierce and Allen are off to an even better start than any of the Bird-era teams. Garnett is focused on the present.

“Not to disrespect the history of this great franchise,” he said, “but I think we’re a lot more in tune to what we’re not doing well versus the things that we are doing well.”

The last time the Celtics were 7-0 was in 1972-73 when they won their first 10 games and finished 68-14.