Put more time on the clock. The Celtics could do this all night.

After playing an NBA-record third overtime game in a postseason series, they were ready for more. Understaffed and overworked, they still weren’t phased by the extended minutes they have played in the first round against the Chicago Bulls.

“Hell, we’ll play all day, and that’s our attitude,” said head coach Doc Rivers following the Celtics 121-118 overtime victory in Game 5. “If we’ve got to play guys 60 minutes, we’ll do it. Hell, what else is there to do right now?”

In the first five games of the series, the Celtics and Bulls have played over 250 minutes, which has included two overtime and one double-overtime battle. Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo have each played more than 100 minutes in the last two games alone. Ray Allen and Kendrick Perkins would be close to that total if they had not fouled out.

Nonetheless, they aren’t complaining.

“It’s crazy, especially playing the amount of minutes that we’re playing as starters, logging in I think I played 55 minutes last game, I played 50 tonight,” said Rondo. “But that’s what we do for a living. We play basketball. No one’s complaining about their minutes. People want more minutes.”

If the Celtics want to make a deep postseason run, minutes are a concern. The injuries of Kevin Garnett and Leon Powe have depleted their rotations, and the bench has not been consistent enough to give the starters an extended break. But the starting five says pile on the playing time. If they don’t play the minutes now, when will they play them?

“I keep hearing everyone asking about minutes,” Allen said. “Someone asked me last game did I play too many minutes? If you don’t do them now, when do you do them? When do you play? This is not training camp, this is not the first half of the season. We have to win games and move on.

“We don’t have the convenience like last year, where you have a full roster of guys that you’re playing nine or 10 guys. Here, we have to play. It’s going to be tougher this year. We put in our mind that we have to play basketball and we have to win games and get our rest.”

Pierce, who initially looked tired before catching fire in the second half, laughs at the notion of rest. After playing 50 minutes, his late game heroics put the Celtics ahead 3-2 in the series.

“You’ve all got to understand, this is nothing,” said Pierce. “When we grew up playing basketball, you may play three or four games in one day. So to play this many minutes, what Doc is doing with us in the off days is he’s saving our legs. I do a good job of getting my treatments, getting my rest. And so hey, at some point when you’re close game and it’s the playoffs, it’s mental and you don’t really think about it.”

The Celtics can sit back and count their minutes later. In the meantime, they will stay on the court as long it takes. Like Rivers said, what else is there to do right now?

Jessica Camerato covers the Celtics for WEEI.com.