When the Boston Celtics finally made the decision last summer to add over-the-hill center Shaquille O’Neal to their delicately-balanced chemistry — and to a roster already filled with big egos — even they wondered privately if it could possibly work.

Adding his larger-than-life personality yet rapidly-fading skills to a team that already had been to the NBA Finals in two of the previous three years carried a huge risk, delivering a potential recipe for disaster.

It has turned out to be the best thing they ever did.

It’s why the Celtics (23-5) go into Tuesday night’s game at Indiana still comfortably leading the Eastern Conference, despite seeing their 14-game winning streak snapped on Christmas Day in Orlando. It was no coincidence that the streak ended when O’Neal had his worst game of the year.

Yes, he has been that key.

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ORLANDO, Fla. — Magic coach Stan Van Gundy was fined by the league last season for remarks critical of the NBA, and the way it makes Christmas Day games such a priority.

This time, he came up with his own plan for an around-the-clock NBA saturation on Christmas Day. And it was dripping with sarcasm.

“I think the NBA is so important to Christmas that what we really need to do is increase from five games to 10,” Van Gundy said Saturday afternoon before his Magic tipped off against the Celtics. “And we need to start them at midnight on Christmas Eve and play ‘em all through the day so there’s not a minute of Christmas Day where there’s not a game on TV. The NBA is Christmas.”

The Magic are playing on Christmas for the third consecutive year and the eighth time in franchise history. Van Gundy, who has four young children still at home, has been especially critical of the league in the past for playing on so many holidays.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers, when told about Van Gundy’s remarks, immediately jumped on board, endorsing the plan. His tone wasn’t so clear.

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ORLANDO, Fla. — Celtics coach Doc Rivers doesn’t normally like to see one of his players sitting courtside on a cellphone, especially if it delays the start of practice preparation. That’s generally a big no-no.

Except for this time.

While most of his teammates were loosening up, or taking shots Friday morning — preparing for their Christmas Day game against the Orlando Magic — guard Ray Allen was on the phone talking with soldiers on the USS Abraham Lincoln, the aircraft carrier sailing through waters in Southwest Asia.

His voice was being piped to an estimated 5,000 military men and women on the ship, smiling as he answered some of their questions, and offered them words of encouragement.

Allen, as much as anyone in the NBA, knows the sacrifices that those soldiers are making. He is the son of a military man, and he moved many times as a youngster as he followed his family from stop to stop. He has both friends and relatives now serving in the military around the world.

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Jonny Flynn, the sixth overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, has been assigned to the NBA Development League’s Sioux Falls Skyforce by the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Flynn averaged 13.5 points and 4.4 assists as rookie last season while starting all 81 games he played. After undergoing hip surgery in the offseason, however, Flynn has just recently been cleared to play again.

“I’m excited just to get back out there. Just to get in the flow of things, shaking the rust off. You can’t do a lot of things in practice you can in a game situation,” Flynn told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “Since I’ve been back, I haven’t had a chance to just full-out play. I just want to get a game feel: Go out there 35 minutes and just play. Play as long as I can, play as hard as I can and just see how I respond to that.

“I don’t think I could get a good evaluation just playing a little bit of time. I think it’s going to help. I’m really looking forward to it.”

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CLEVELAND — The prelude to the game everyone is pointing to Thursday night featured the team that first demonstrated how to blend three stars into a team.

That would be the Boston Celtics, who brought Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen together and won one NBA title and came within one game of another.

That trio and the rest of the Celtics showed the Cleveland Cavaliers what happens when talent and teamwork are simply too much. They slapped the Cavs in the face — and reminded them what can happen Thursday night if they are not ready to play. Emotion, after all, can only take a group so far. Even when it is playing on the emotion of an entire city.

The Cavs were easy victims Tuesday, as the Celtics won 106-87. This prelude to the arrival of the Miami Heat and LeBron James was a ride on calm waters, as the Celtics clearly outclassed the Cavs.

“It kind of looked like a layup drill at times,” Cavs coach Byron Scott said.

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Ray Allen doesn’t hesitate to reveal some secrets of his longevity to younger teammates. So at a Halloween party last month at Allen’s house, the Boston guard took Delonte West into his garage.

There he showed off his $10,000 bike. It’s a recent investment to help keep Allen, 35, in great shape.

“I’m learning a lot from him just in the short time (of being in Boston after signing in September) in how he takes care of his body,” said West, 27, who figures to get even more tips from Allen after he was lost for several months Wednesday with a broken right wrist. “Not that many people invest that much money on a bike to ride. It’s like something Lance Armstrong would ride. But that’s what you do when you want to become the ultimate pro, you invest to keep yourself in top shape.”

Allen has been riding for about a dozen years and had the same bike. But earlier this year he upgraded to a bike designed specifically for him.

“I’d been looking to get a new one so I used this company out of Boston, Independent Fabrication,” Allen said in an interview with FanHouse. “I wanted something ultralight, and I just went to a bike shop to figure out what’s new and what’s out there. We put together a bike based on my specifications. It’s like one of those bikes you can pick up with two fingers. It’s just real light.”

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ATLANTA — Not only does Delonte West not want to be like Charles Barkley when it comes to retiring without a title ring, he won’t be taking any similar stances about not being a role model.

The Boston guard recently returned from a 10-day NBA suspension to start the season due a September 2009 incident in which he pleaded guilty to carrying three guns and two knives while on motorcycle outside Washington D.C.

What West said has been reinforced is that he needs to serve as a better example.

“I’m a role model, and I’m put in this position because of my talents to where other people’s children out there look up to us,” West said in an interview with FanHouse before Boston’s 99-76 rout of Atlanta on Monday night at Philips Arena. “We got to make sure that we keep that in perspective. It’s not about us. And bad decisions grownups should frown upon because their kids watch. I’m just trying to make better decisions, really.”

Still, West has found his name linked to negative situations since then. Just last month, West got into a locker-room fight at practice with teammate Von Wafer, an incident Boston coach Doc Rivers called a “bad day.” And there were rumors that with Cleveland late last season West had an intimate relationship with Gloria James, the mother of star LeBron James, who soon bolted from the Cavaliers to Miami as a free agent.

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Delonte West is ready to turn off the television and lace up his sneakers.

Suspended by the NBA for the first 10 games of the season, West was allowed to play in the preseason and practice with the Boston Celtics but was forbidden from being in the arena during regular-season games. As such, he watched from his couch as his new teammates opened the season.

“I was like a fan,” he said, according to NESN.com. “I was cheering, annoying my neighbors, banging on the walls a few times.”

“This team is fun to watch,” he added. “I find myself just as a fan of the game, rooting for my guys, cheering, calling everybody I know, saying, ‘The game is on! We’ve got to watch the Celtics!’ It’s great, and it’s even better that I see those guys on TV and I can think to myself, ‘I’m a part of that.’ And then I come in for practice and I see these guys, and it makes me appreciate being in the NBA all over again.”

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MIAMI — Unsurprisingly, many NBA experts, analysts and fans are sharpening their claws, ready to pounce on everything the Miami Heat did wrong on their way to a second consecutive letdown in front of their home crowd at the AmericanAirlines Arena. Some of it is justified, of course, especially when only one of the five Heat starters showed up for the entire game.

But while there’s no question the Heat are a work in progress (and perhaps even their roster is, as well), not enough focus will be given to the Boston Celtics‘ game plan and execution, as their accomplishments are overshadowed by the Heat’s failures.

“I talked about greatness with the team this morning,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra before the game, presumably to motivate his players though he could have easily been talking about their opponent. “There is nothing flashy a lot of times. Greatness, really, is consistency; doing the little things and the same things every single time, every single possession.”

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Doc Rivers stood by his player on Wednesday, vouching for Kevin Garnett‘s claim that he did not call Charlie Villanueva, who suffers from alopecia universalis and is completely hairless, a “cancer patient” during Tuesday’s win over Detroit. Villanueva made the allegation on Twitter on Twitter several hours after the game.

“I actually heard what Kevin said. I was right there, what he really said is in the statement. I’m going to leave it at that,” Rivers said, referring to the statement issued by Garnett’s public relations company Wednesday.

In the statement, Garnett admitted to insulting Villanueva, just not in a way quite as offensive. “My comment to Charlie Villanueva was in fact: ‘You are cancerous to your team and our league.’ I would never be insensitive to the brave struggle that cancer patients endure.”

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It took five stops covering 18 years as an NBA assistant for Larry Drew finally to get this opportunity.

He is more than ready to succeed.

Drew, 52, was in his office Wednesday morning well before the traffic snarled outside and rush hour even began, reviewing plans for his upcoming training camp with the Atlanta Hawks, his first as a head coach in the NBA.

It’s an opportunity he has coveted for years, and one he thought might never come.

“There is no doubt in my mind that I’m ready for this,” Drew told FanHouse. “I had hoped to get this chance a lot sooner — eight or nine years ago — but the wait has given me plenty of time and experience to prepare for it.”

Drew became the latest former NBA point guard to step into the head coaching ranks, following Scott Brooks (Oklahoma City), Doc Rivers (Boston), Scott Skiles (Milwaukee) and Avery Johnson (New Jersey), guys he once played against — and often beat off the dribble — but now must beat from the sideline.

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It’s going to take a chemist, and not just a coach, to lead the Boston Celtics this season.

Things just got more complicated for Doc Rivers.

The Celtics improved their talent level this summer by first adding Shaquille O’Neal and now Delonte West, but they also dove into some risky territory with two potentially divisive players who could change the locker room makeup.

If chemistry really is such a big part of the success or failure of a team, like so many coaches say, then the Celtics admittedly are taking a chance.

It could win them another championship. Or it could destroy what they have.

“Chemistry is a delicate thing. I understand that, and I’m as cautious as anyone with it. I guarantee you, I’ll be keeping my eye on it,” Rivers told FanHouse Wednesday evening, confirming the Celtics’ addition of West earlier in the day. “I don’t know yet if we can make it work. It is going to be interesting, that’s for sure.”

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Big Shamrock? Green Monster? Green Giant? How ’bout them Shaqqles? Get yourself some Excedrin, kids. The puns are about to get out of control: Reports indicate that center Shaquille O’Neal is shipping up to Boston to join the Celtics.

Comcast SportsNet New England’s A. Sherrod Blakely reports that Shaq is “close” to signing with the Boston Celtics. That report has also been confirmed by CBSSports.com’s Ken Berger.

FanHouse was the first to report O’Neal interest in joining the Celtics last month.

Adding the future Hall of Fame center raises the Celtics’ frontcourt to a higher level than last year, even after the retirement of Rasheed Wallace, especially considering the addition of Jermaine O’Neal. Even with Kendrick Perkins on the shelf until at least December, the C’s boast a lineup of big, tough defenders that have the same veteran mindset as the rest of their Eastern Conference champion roster.

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ORLANDO, Fla. — Austin Rivers was 7 years old, sitting in the wooden bleachers alongside his father at Winter Park (Fla.) High School, watching older brother Jeremiah playing age-group, travel-team basketball.

“Dad, why don’t they switch to zone defense?” Austin started.

“Dad, why do they keep running that pick-and-roll play?” he asked two minutes later.

“Dad, why aren’t they boxing out,” he continued.

“Dad, why can’t I play on this team?” he persisted.

Father Doc Rivers, head coach of the Orlando Magic at the time (2000), was watching closely like every other parent at the game. He turned to his younger son and smiled, both a little surprised and amused by the inquisitive and precocious basketball mind sitting next to him.

“Good questions,” Doc said, then turned back to the game. “You’ll get your turn.”

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LAS VEGAS — This continental divide started in 1996 when Shaquille O’Neal bolted from Orlando in the East to the Lakers in the West. It really got going when Michael Jordan retired from Chicago in the East in 1998.

But those in the East are getting tired of having sand kicked in their faces.

Yes, the Western Conference still has won nine of the past 12 NBA titles and 10 of the last 11 seasonal inter-conference battles. Yet there finally is starting to be some chortling in the East.

After losing the conference regular season match-up for nine straight years, the East finally broke through in 2008-09 to win 51.3 percent of the games between the conferences. The West came back to win 54.7 percent of the battles last season (it didn’t help that New Jersey and New York, in trying to clear salary-cap room, weren’t trying to win). But this summer has shown the East could end up being the dominant conference this decade.

Of those generally believed to be the top eight free agents, seven signed with East teams. Five (LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Joe Johnson and Paul Pierce) stayed in the East and two went from West to East (Amar’e Stoudemire from Phoenix to New York and Carlos Boozer from Utah to Chicago). The only one to end up with a West team was Dirk Nowitzki re-signing with Dallas.

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Ray Allen was one of Boston’s big question marks for next season, after a Celtics campaign where the team finished just a single game from seeing their aging core secure a second NBA title in a span of three years. But fans in New England will get to see the band get back together for perhaps one final run at glory, after Allen on Wednesday agreed to return to the Celtics next season.

The deal, first reported by ESPN’s Marc Stein, is for two years and $20 million, with Allen holding a player option for the second year.

Allen was the last piece of Boston’s current puzzle that needed to fall into place for next season. Once Paul Pierce re-signed after opting out of his deal to become a free agent, and Doc Rivers made it official that he would indeed return to fulfill the final year of his contract, the decision to come back was likely made a whole lot easier for the Celtics‘ sharp-shooter — especially for a completely reasonable $10 million per season.

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ORLANDO, Fla. — The defending Eastern Conference champions aren’t shivering in their sneakers about Miami having unleashed a possible superteam.

Neither Boston general manager Danny Ainge nor Doc Rivers, both of whom indeed were wearing sneakers Wednesday along with their players at the Air Tran Orlando Pro Summer League, appeared too concerned after the news broke Wednesday that Toronto forward Chris Bosh will be signing with the Heat, joining guard Dwyane Wade, soon to be re-signed.

“We’ll find out that later,” said Rivers, asked if Miami has become a contender with the move. “You got to play. But, clearly, they’ve improved their basketball team. But I’m not going to go ahead and say there’s a shift (in East power) as I’m concerned. … We went through it three years ago (when the Celtics won the title in 2007-08 with newly acquired stars Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen). We did it quick, but I don’t think anybody anticipated us doing it that quick. … We’ll see.”

Ainge didn’t sound too worried about Bosh going to the Heat.

“Well, Miami will be very good,” Ainge said. “But I’m working on what we’re trying to do to become a better team. I’m not worried about what everybody else is doing.”

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ORLANDO, Fla. — It might have been the easiest negotiation in NBA history.

Oklahoma City executives showed up at Kevin Durant‘s home at 11:01 p.m. CT June 30 (12:01 a.m. ET July 1), and offered the star forward a maximum deal. He accepted it on the spot.

“It was a pretty easy contract,” Durant said in an interview Wednesday with FanHouse at the Air Tran Orlando Pro Summer League, shortly after he had announced on Twitter that he had agreed to sign a five-year contract extension. “They came over at 11:01 and they offered me the deal, and it wasn’t something that I can turn down. … I’m blessed to get maximum money. That’s all you can ask for.”

Durant, whose extension begins in 2011-12 and takes him through 2015-16, could have asked for the ability to opt out of his deal in the fifth season. But he said that didn’t interest him.

“This is where I’m committed,” Durant said. “This is where I want to be. I’m a loyal person. I’m happy.”

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ORLANDO, Fla. — Former New Jersey head coach Lawrence Frank has a good chance of landing on Boston’s bench as an assistant to replace Tom Thibodeau, who left last month to become Chicago’s head coach.

“He’s a very strong candidate,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said in an interview Wednesday with FanHouse.

Rivers interviewed Frank on Tuesday at the Air Tran Orlando Summer League. The two went to dinner.

“I’ve always liked Lawrence,” Rivers said. “I think he would be a great assistant on our staff.”

Rivers said Frank, fired by the Nets last November and who recently has been working as an NBA TV analyst, wants the job. But Rivers said it’s not a done deal.

Share “I’ve got to talk to two more guys, and hopefully those guys won’t go somewhere else,” said Rivers, not identifying the two other possible candidates. “I’m in no rush.”

Thibodeau, a defensive specialist, was Boston’s lead assistant.

Chris Tomasson can be reached at tomasson@fanhouse.com or on Twitter @christomasson

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ORLANDO, Fla. — Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers was sitting next to Celtics general manager Danny Ainge when he said talk of his departure from the team was blown out of proportion.

“I wish he’d told me that,” Ainge interjected. “I lost sleep.”

After The Finals, it was like Waiting for Godot as both coaches took their time before officially announcing they would return for next season. Finally last week, with the anticipation of white smoke billowing out of a Vatican chimney to announce a new pope, word came that both Rivers and the Lakers‘ Phil Jackson will return.

Even though Ainge and others were hanging by fish wire, wondering if Rivers would return, he shrugged off the two-week stretch when there was uncertainty after The Finals concluded June 17.

“It was really no different than any other year,” Rivers said in an interview with FanHouse at the Air Tran Orlando Pro Summer League. “It was a much bigger deal made about it than it was. It’s what we do every year. We (his family) go home and relax and we sit around.”

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ORLANDO, Fla. — Rasheed Wallace is taking his time in officially announcing his retirement. That’s just fine with the Boston Celtics.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers said Monday that Wallace is assisting the team by not filing retirement papers any time soon.

“He’s trying to help us out by waiting, which is good,” Rivers said of Wallace, due to make $6.32 million next season and $6.79 million in 2011-12. “He’s still our property so we can use that in a trade or something. He’s doing a great thing for us.”

While there has been some speculation Wallace might not retire now that Rivers has assured that he will return to the Celtics and star forward Paul Pierce is on the verge of signing a new contract, Rivers said the chances are “very little or none” the forward will play next season.

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The Boston Celtics received good news Wednesday when coach Doc Rivers decided that he’ll return for at least the remaining season on his contract.

“I’m coming back,” Rivers said in a text message, according to The Boston Globe. “I want another crack at it with this group.”

Rivers, who has coached Boston for six years and led the team to an NBA championship in 2008, drove the Celtics to the NBA Finals this past season, where they lost in seven games to the Los Angeles Lakers. After the playoffs ended, Rivers talked about taking a break from coaching in order to spend time with his family.

Rivers has two sons playing basketball in Jeremiah, a senior at Indiana, and Austin, a senior at Winter Park (Fla.) High and regarded as one of the best prep players in the nation.

“It’s a tough one,” Rivers said last week when asked about his coaching options. “It really is, and it’s a serious one either way. So let’s just wait, and we’ll figure it out soon.”

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It’s Monday, and the Boston Celtics have woken up to a dramatically different world than the one they entered into a week ago.

A week ago they were in prime position to win their second championship with this core, their 18th overall, and scoring yet another victory over their hated rivals. They seemed to have all the answers for the Los Angeles Lakers, seemed to be clicking at the right time, seemed to have victory within their grasp, just needing to wrap up the loose ends.

“Seemed” is such a painful term in retrospect.

A week later and their star shooting guard, arguably their best offensive threat, is on his way to free agency, possibly never to return. Their coach is giving serious consideration to walking away, having given too much of himself in the regular season and playoffs. They’re unsure of whether to make another run with the elder core or detonate to the foundation and bring in younger pillars. And they’ll be watching (or more likely, avoiding watching) their biggest rivals celebrating their second trophy in consecutive years. And this one was not won against some team the Celtics arrogantly considered pretenders, but against Red’s Army itself.

How did they get here? What happened? They looked so dominant in the playoffs!

Tragically, painfully, when it gets down to it, it was the regular season, the season the Celtics outright dismissed and insulted, that was their undoing.

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LOS ANGELES — The celebration and the chaos surrounded them without making a sound.

It was quiet in the visitor’s locker room at Staples Center on Thursday night, where one Boston Celtic after another was asked to discuss their own basketball death. They talked about the classic Game 7 in hushed tones and in a painful rotation — Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Glen Davis, Kevin Garnett — all reliving the Lakers‘ 83-79 championship survival. The floor was wet over here, too, but it wasn’t because of champagne.

“There was a lot of crying in our locker room, a lot of people who care,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “I don’t think there was a dry eye. A lot of hugs. A lot of people feeling awful. That’s a good thing. You know, that means everybody cared.”

They went out like champions from beginning to end, these aging Hall of Famers and relentless reserves who came so close to pulling off such a memorable and unexpected feat. They unplugged the electricity in the building early, jumping out to a 10-point first quarter lead that ensured the tension among most of the 18,997 witnesses would not escape.

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LOS ANGELES — Doc Rivers opened his press conference before Game 7 by confirming to the media what many had assumed: that Rasheed Wallace would be in the starting lineup to take the place of the injured Kendrick Perkins. The reason? “He’s old,” Rivers said.

Rivers also discussed some other lineup options, but said that at this point in the season, the team isn’t planning on changing much. Video of the entirety Rivers’ pregame comments can be seen in the clip below.

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LOS ANGELES — To nobody’s surprise, Doc Rivers is going with the veteran.

The Boston coach confirmed before Thursday night’s Game 7 of the NBA Finals that he will start Rasheed Wallace at center against the Lakers in place of injured Kendrick Perkins. Wallace, a 15-year veteran, is the only player on either team to have played in a Game 7 of the NBA Finals, taking the floor for Detroit in a 2005 loss at San Antonio.

“He’s old,” Rivers said of Wallace, 35. “I figured I’d play the oldest guys. I just think it’s a good combination with Kevin because of the size, with (Lakers center Andrew) Bynum‘s size. I just think it’s a better fit for us.”

The 6-foot-11, 230-pound Wallace will take over for the 6-10, 265-pound Perkins, who was lost in Game 6 with torn ligaments in his right knee. The other candidate to go against the 7-foot, 285-pound Bynum was 6-9, 289-pound Glen Davis, who will come off the bench in the big game at the Staples Center.

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LOS ANGELES — The statue outside isn’t threatening to Kobe Bryant.

Magic Johnson is a friend, for starters, not to mention a trailblazer whose place in Lakers lore stood alone long before it was immortalized on the steps outside the Staples Center.

Of course Bryant knows that he’ll match Johnson’s five championships with a win in Game 7 on Thursday and perhaps be known as the best Laker ever. Of course he’s aware that he’d be within one of Michael Jordan’s six rings if he can beat back these Boston Celtics, thus further legitimizing his place in the conversation about the best player of all-time. And of course he’s noticed that there’s a historical buzz in the air now that the league’s best rivalry has reached the game’s last-stop stage.

He just doesn’t care.

He cares about one thing. Winning one game.

No one on either side has been as unwilling to discuss the context at hand, the storylines and the sagas, as the uncooperative Bryant. He hasn’t always declined with a scowl. He has grinned on occasion, or simply sat expressionless. Tuesday night’s Game 6 press conference featured Bryant with both hands cupped beneath his chin, his fingers tapping his cheeks as he did his necessary media work before getting back to the work that really matters.

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LOS ANGELES — Kendrick Perkins arrived on crutches and slowly took a seat in front of a media horde. He then offered the news Wednesday everybody knew was coming.

The Boston center said he won’t play in Thursday’s Game 7 of the NBA Finals against the Lakers at the Staples Center after suffering a torn MCL and PCL in his right knee during Tuesday’s Game 6.

“I hurt my knee pretty badly,” Perkins said before his team practiced. “I’m out for (Game 7). There ain’t nothing I can do about it … I got to watch from the sideline. I’d be lying if I told you it didn’t hurt. Game 7 of the Finals … Can’t help your team. Can’t really do nothing but sit on the side and encourage guys to play better … Physically I’m doing better than I am mentally.”

It was expected Perkins was done for Game 7 after he came down on his right knee midway through the first quarter, after battling Andrew Bynum and Kobe Bryant of the Lakers for a rebound in Tuesday’s 89-67 loss.

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LOS ANGELES — The Celtics have less than two days to somehow wash off a most humiliating defeat. As for Glen Davis, it took him about two minutes.

After Tuesday night’s game, the Boston center was sitting at his locker with his head buried in his hands. Then he stumbled to the shower.

There must have been healing powers in the water.

When Davis came back, it was as if Boston’s 89-67 defeat to the Lakers, which left the NBA Finals tied 3-3, never happened. Davis even offered what sure sounded like a guarantee for victory in Thursday’s Game 7, also at the Staples Center.

“We’ll come to play,” he said. “We’ll compete, and we’ll be there at the end holding the trophy up.”

One could say Davis is being delusional. Gumby would have been more aggressive Tuesday than any of these other guys in green had just been.

The Celtics were outrebounded 52-39, including 30-13 in the first half when they looked shell-shocked for a while that starting center Kendrick Perkins had been lost for the game with 5:30 left in the first quarter due to a sprained right knee.

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When I look at the Celtics, I see mostly Rajon Rondo. I’m not even sure that’s such a hotly subjective error to make anymore. That team rests in Rondo’s over-sized hands at this point. The system is simple: Given Rondo the ball, a bunch of weapons and trust his judgment.

That stands as a total reversal of the 2008 team, when the question was how to meld Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen into a cohesive strike force. This postseason, the task has been simpler: let Rondo judge the flow of the game and mete out touches accordingly. Granted, Rondo’s not always perfect at this — ask Pierce all about that — but so far, it’s hard to argue with the results, or what it’s done for any player individually.

It’s amazing that, two seasons ago, this was a enigmatic guard mostly asked to stay out of the way and not screw things up. As inspiring, or mystifying, a transformation as that is, there’s one key ingredient missing from it: Doc Rivers, point guard.

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Missing 18 consecutive shots from 3-point range should be enough to discourage anyone from even venturing beyond the arc in the biggest game of the season.

Not for Boston’s Ray Allen.

He can’t wait to take the next one in Game 6 of the NBA Finals Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Lakers because he already knows it’s going in.

Great shooters always believe.

After 14 seasons and almost 21,000 points in the NBA, Allen never has been through a stretch like this – a drought on the brightest possible stage – yet his confidence has not dimmed.

“To achieve the moment that we all want,” Allen said, “it’s going to take everybody to do the things they do.”

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LOS ANGELES — Sorry, but I just can’t see it. When you’re Doc Rivers, and you’re a victory shy of a second world championship to join the elite of NBA coaches, and you’re just 48, and you’re healthy, and you’re charismatic, and you’re wanted by your boss to run a creaky but capable team into the unforeseeable future, you don’t retire.

You can’t retire.

So he won’t retire.

“Actually, I think in a heartbeat, he would leave,” said Kevin Willis, somebody who should know.

Not only were Willis and Rivers teammates during the 1980s on those wonderful Atlanta Hawks teams that featured Dominique Wilkins as the Human Highlight Film and Spud Webb as a little miracle, Willis and Rivers have remained close through the years. They exchanged messages before the start of the NBA Finals. “I just wished him the best of luck,” said Willis, who apparently was Rivers’ version of a 7-foot-high horseshoe combined with a four-leaf clover in sneakers.

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BOSTON — One of the last things the Celtics see before they leave their locker room for the court is a sign reading, “Individuals Win Games But Teams Win Titles.”

The Celtics have had that attitude for years. Back in the 1960s, Wilt Chamberlain piled up points but Boston almost always won the title. When the NBA Finals MVP award was handed out for the first time in 1969, the Lakers‘ Jerry West received it but the Celtics won that series.

The sign wasn’t technically correct Sunday night at TD Garden. Lakers star guard Kobe Bryant had a banner night with 38 points, including 23 straight during one stretch, but his team didn’t win the game. Nevertheless, you get the point.

Stressing team play, the Celtics are one win away from extending their NBA record for championships to 18 after winning 92-86 to take a 3-2 Finals lead. And, if Bryant, the top individual in the series, wants to keep piling up points, the Celtics might not get too bent out of shape.

“That he’s providing points for his team and he’s in a rhythm, it’s a bit dangerous,” Boston forward Kevin Garnett said of Bryant’s barrage, which included scoring the first 19 points of the third quarter after scoring the final four of the first half. “But for the rhythm of his team, then it works in our favor.”

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BOSTON — There is a poster on the wall in the locker room of the Boston Celtics — Individuals Win Games, Teams Win Titles — strategically placed by the door, making sure every player sees it before he takes the court every night.

It may sound too cliché, too corny in today’s basketball world, but it never has been more appropriate than now — with the Celtics one victory away from another NBA championship.

They don’t have the best players in basketball anymore — not a single one on any of the three All-NBA teams of 2010 — but they keep beating them one at a time.

The Celtics took a 3-2 lead in the NBA Finals Sunday night by beating the Los Angeles Lakers, 92-86, withstanding another great performance by Kobe Bryant, who now looks headed for the same fate as Dwyane Wade (Miami), LeBron James (Cleveland) and Dwight Howard (Orlando) suffered in previous playoff rounds.

They, too, fell to the team-tested Celtics.

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BOSTON — To be so smart, the Lakers sure looked dumb.

They pride themselves on their free-flowing offensive game and artistic approach to nearly every facet of basketball. They entered Game 5 here at the TD Garden certain they could slap their mesmerizing tactics on the Celtics and return home one victory shy of a second straight NBA championship.

Now they have no chance in these NBA Finals if they can’t finish with two consecutive victories.

They have no chance if they don’t get smarter quicker. Kill the dumb stuff. The stupid stuff.

They are down 3-2 and looked disorganized and were eventually displaced in a 92-86 loss that spoke volumes about Boston’s preparation and will but maybe more about L.A.’s dumbfounding approach.

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BOSTON — Oliver Lafayette was warming up with the rest of the Boston Celtics Thursday before Game 4 of the NBA Finals, hitting shots alongside Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo, trying real hard to look like it was no big deal.

But it was. It’s just hard to be cool when you’re grinning from ear to ear. Lafayette looked more like a sponge, soaking in every bit of the pre-game hoopla. This was his time in the sun – and he knew it.

“This is a long way from home, a long way from the D-League,” Lafayette said in the midst of warm-ups. “Just to be here — at the NBA Finals with the Celtics — is a great experience for me.”

Lafayette, a 6-2, 190-pound guard from Baton Rouge, La., spent the last two seasons in the NBA Development League. The Celtics signed him April 14 — the last day of the regular season — and he played that night in the TD Garden, getting seven points and four rebounds against the Milwaukee Bucks.

It was the last time he played in a game. He is on the 15-man playoff roster, but the the chances of him being one of the 12 activated for a Finals game are slim. For him, it’s the practices, the warm-ups, the locker room he shares with Kevin Garnett and Kendrick Perkins that has made the experience worthwhile.

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BOSTON — Getting to the free throw line Sunday night in pivotal Game 5 of the NBA Finals will be a real priority for the Boston Celtics.

Maybe not for their point guard.

For all the good things that Rajon Rondo has done through the playoffs and in this best-of-seven series against the Los Angeles Lakers, his poor free throw shooting still could come back to haunt the Celtics.

Rondo comes into Game 5 shooting just 26.7 percent — that’s not a typo — from the free throw line in the Finals, a stunningly dismal display. He has made just four of 15.

By comparison, Ray Allen is shooting 100 percent, Kevin Garnett 90.9 percent, Paul Pierce 86.2 percent and center Kendrick Perkins 73 percent.

“I’m shocked, too. I don’t plan to miss them,” Rondo said. “I’ll have to figure it out. This is the Finals.”

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BOSTON — Tony Allen wants so badly to re-sign with Boston, you’d think he might arrange for an airplane to fly over with a banner during Sunday night’s final Celtics home game of the season.

Then again, the game is indoors at TD Garden. So perhaps Allen will look to rent a panel on the scoreboard or maybe pucker up to the parquet floor for the kiss cam.

“I want to be here,” said the reserve guard who will become an unrestricted free agent this summer. “This is definitely where I want to be. Hands down … My first negotiations are definitely going to be with the Celtics.”

Talk about not playing hard to get, and not exactly using hardball tactics when it comes to getting a raise on the $2.5 million he’s making this season. Then again, Allen certainly isn’t hurting his cause lately of getting a return engagement with the Celtics.

Allen is averaging a modest 4.0 points in 16.8 minutes during the Finals against the Lakers, with Sunday’s Game 5 being Boston’s home finale before the series shifts to Los Angeles for Game 6 and Game 7, if necessary. But Allen’s primary focus has been defense, and he was solid in Game 4 against Lakers guard Kobe Bryant.

When Allen was matched up against Bryant for the first 9:09 of the fourth quarter Thursday, the star shot 0-of-3 and scored just two points as the Celtics outscored the Lakers 25-15. On Saturday, a reporter even asked Allen, whose Celtics won Game 5 96-89 to tie the series 2-2, if he’s the “Kobe stopper.”

“I never heard about anything about me being no Kobe stopper,” Allen said. “It’s all five guys together.”

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BOSTON — Sure, there are tales like the one of Leon Smith, the legendary bust who became a poster child for the NBA eventually instituting an age limit after his high-school-to-the-pros foray in 1999 resulted in two arrests, a suicide attempt and being waived as a rookie.

But there are also great success stories about players who bypassed college before the NBA put a stop to that beginning with the 2006 draft. Such players include LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett, the latter two headlining the Lakers and Boston in these NBA Finals.

Yet more than just statistics goes into a player having made a successful transition from high school to the NBA, and Andrew Bynum fits the bill. Yes, he’s been putting up good numbers as the Lakers’ starting center the past four seasons when he hasn’t been hurt, but Bynum also has shown great maturity off the court.

Bynum, 22, has handled his knee injury during these playoffs with grace and professionalism. He speaks like a man wiser than his years, talking about books he has read and how he meditates before each game.

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BOSTON – Don’t make the mistake of counting these Celtics out.

And we’re not even talking about the NBA Finals.

A day after Boston’s 96-89 win over the Lakers in Game 4 tied the series 2-2, Celtics coach Doc Rivers countered the many critics who expect this version of Gang Green to part ways this summer.

The two central characters in the matter are Rivers and Ray Allen. The coach has admitted he is thinking of leaving his post to spend more time with family, while the Celtics’ shooting guard and one-third of the team’s vaunted Big Three is in the final year of his contract.

The topic arose when Rivers was asked whether he and his players have discussed the fact that this could be the team’s last run.

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BOSTON — The Boston Celtics and this improbable run to the NBA Finals were built around the Big Three of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen — all eventually headed to the Hall of Fame.

Yet it’s the Odd Three that might propel them now to another championship.

Reserves Big Baby Davis, Rasheed Wallace and Nate Robinson — a misfit/castoff bunch — are the ones giving fits to the Los Angeles Lakers in this NBA Finals.

“When you think about it, we have a helluva collection on our bench,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said Friday at the TD Garden. “They’ve all had their critics, and in some ways they’ve earned that, too. But they just keep plugging along.”

While the Boston starters faltered in Game 4, it was the Odd Three that came to the rescue, outplaying the Lakers in a 96-89 victory that evened the series and presented new problems for Los Angeles to consider.

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BOSTON — At the start of the season, there were plenty of Celtics spewing saliva. It was because they were seething about Glen Davis‘ boneheaded injury.

On Thursday, it was Davis’ mouth that was dripping. And everybody on the team was laughing about it.

The big man named “Big Baby” fashioned perhaps Boston’s biggest feel-good story of the season Thursday night at TD Garden. He scored 18 points off the bench in the Celtics’ 96-89 win over the Lakers in Thursday’s Game 4 of the NBA Finals, and then laughed away during a postgame press conference. One of the highlights was Davis being asked about the drool emerging when he was yelling after a fourth-quarter layup that resulted in a three-point play.

“Let me tell you something right quick,” Davis said. “When you’re in the moment, you’re in the moment. If I slobber, snot, spit, please excuse me. Kids, don’t do that. Have manners and things like that. Sorry about that. Did I catch you with some?”

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BOSTON — Paul Pierce sure must be glad about going back to Los Angeles now.

It was the Boston forward who was captured by television cameras late in his team’s Game 2 win over the Lakers in the NBA Finals as saying, “We ain’t coming back to L.A.” But Boston’s dreams of winning three straight games at home to capture the series were shattered when the Celtics lost Game 3 at home.

But the Celtics love L.A. now. Their 96-89 win Thursday night in Game 4 at the TD Garden tied the NBA Finals 2-2 and assured there will at least be a Game 6 in Los Angeles.

Pierce looked as if he would be the big star Thursday, scoring 12 points in the first half. But Pierce didn’t score again until late in the game, which was good enough for him to finish with a game-high 19 points.

No big deal. With Boston’s bench providing 36 points on the night and playing much of the fourth quarter, reserve forward Glen Davis had 18 points, including 11 in the second half. Also providing key bench support was Nate Robinson with 12 points.

Lakers star Kobe Bryant scored a game-high 33. He shot 10 of 22, much better than his 10 of 29 effort in Game 3. No doubt Bryant would take that outing over Thursday’s since his team won.

But there’s plenty more to come in this series. The only certainty now is it will end in Los Angeles.

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Michigan State coach Tom Izzo is in Cleveland Thursday visiting with the Cavaliers about becoming the team’s new coach, the school’s sports Information department confirmed.

Izzo has been in contact with Cavs’ officials for almost a week, and the visit seems part of his effort to understand the team’s long-term plans, especially if they do not re-sign LeBron James.

There is no indication that Izzo will take the job Thursday, and the feeling at Michigan State has been mixed about whether Izzo would stay or leave. Spartans AD Mike Hollis has said the school will move quickly to replace Izzo if he leaves. FanHouse’s Sam Amick reported Thursday that Byron Scott had a one-hour phone interview with the Cavaliers earlier in the day. This could be a fallback option, or it could be the Cavs merely interviewing two viable candidates.

One thing is certain: Izzo’s hiring would seriously alter the salary structure of NBA coaches. The Cavs reportedly have offered Izzo anywhere from $5 to $6 million per year on a five-year contract.

Phil Jackson has won 10 titles (soon to be 11?) and is paid $12 million. Larry Brown, who has won both an NBA and NCAA title, earns $7 million. Mike D’Antoni of the Knicks, Don Nelson of Golden State and San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich (four titles) are at $6 million; Doc Rivers, who won a title two years ago in Boston, earns $5.5 million.

If the reported figures are correct, Izzo would jump right into the Rivers-Popovich pay scale before ever coaching or winning a game in the NBA.

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BOSTON — While the rest of the Boston Celtics were finishing their on-court media obligations and preparing for a light workout Wednesday, Marquis Daniels sat alone on the sideline, watching wistfully and wondering how his season unraveled so badly.

He might be the loneliest man at the NBA Finals.

Daniels came to Boston last summer as a free agent, believing it was the perfect fit, a veteran team that wanted him as part of their championship plans. They welcomed his experience and versatility, believing he could be a reliable backup at all three perimeter spots.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who like Daniels spends his offseasons in Central Florida, even recruited him.

Now Daniels is wondering where he’ll be playing next season. It’s likely to be somewhere else.

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BOSTON — The respective news conferences were over.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson had shared his agenda-filled thoughts, as had Boston coach Doc Rivers on the off-day between Tuesday’s Game 3 and Thursday’s Game 4 of the NBA Finals.

And as Rivers walked through a tunnel inside TD Garden, he was asked yet another question about the officiating.

“I don’t want to posture,” Rivers said with a grin.

Yet that horse, one could say, was already out of the barn.

Jackson and Rivers spent the day making their cases with the NBA officials through the media, surely pushing the league’s tolerance threshold for such discussions and putting the spotlight squarely on the part of the game that is supposed to go unnoticed.

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BOSTON — Pardon the Celtics if they forgot at times they have a former MVP and a 14-time All-Star on the roster.

In the first two games of the NBA Finals on the road against the Lakers, K.G. was M.I.A. Kevin Garnett provided pedestrian averages of 11.0 points and 4.0 rebounds.

With that in mind, the headline on the front page of Tuesday’s Boston Herald screamed, “A.P.B. For K.G.”

Well, the Boston forward was located Tuesday at TD Garden. He scored 25 points and suddenly looked as if that step he’d lost in Los Angeles had been found and shipped back to Celtics’ headquarters by overnight mail.

The only problem was the Celtics believe they should have looked for Garnett more in the 91-84 loss. He shot 11 of 16, but Boston coach Doc Rivers said Garnett should have gotten 25 attempts.

“We did talk about how we didn’t take full advantage of Kevin when he was on,” Boston forward Ray Allen said Wednesday about Garnett, who had seven field-goal attempts in the second half after nine before intermission. “We should have kept going to him.”

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When the Bulls turned to Tom Thibodeau for their head coaching position, the attention naturally shifted to the impact on LeBron James. And certainly, James is the most important factor in almost all the decisions being made in the NBA over the next six months. But with his decision still very much up in the air, along with potential partners Chris Bosh, Amar’e Stoudemire and Joe Johnson, it might behoove us to take a look at the impact of Thibs on two players that are actually on the roster, Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, along with a few who might still be around next October.

Deciphering what kind of offense Thibodeau will run is a bit like reading tea leaves. With no prior head coaching experience (a popular element of discussion), Thibodeau is an open book for offense. But examining his defense is something we could do for days.

The Bulls were a good defensive squad to begin with, clocking in at a 105.3 defensive efficiency mark under Vinny Del Negro, good for 11th in the league. Of course, Thibodeau’s Celtics club was even better with a 103.8 mark, good for fifth best in the league (and that’s with 90% of the roster not giving a crap for three months). Thibodeau’s impact is likely to mean the most for Chicago’s two star players, Rose and Noah.

Derrick Rose isn’t Rajon Rondo, in any way. His skill set is diagonally opposed to Rondo on any sort of scale. Not as long as Rondo, with a better jump shot, and more reliant on quickness, he can match Rondo in top speed. Where Thibodeau could really help Rose is from a help defense perspective. Rose’s physical abilities keep him in a good position in most man situations, but there are times when Rose suffers in recovering to provide help and is unaware of the defensive set outside of his assignment. Thibodeau’s knowledge base could help him in those areas.

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BOSTON — It’s becoming an annual rite of spring. Aging Derek Fisher gets doubted and then steps up for an hourglass-defying outing.

But this veteran’s day was a bit different for Fisher. After the point guard had made yet another Errol Flynn-like postseason rescue and helped his Lakers to a 91-84 win over Boston on Tuesday night in Game 3 of the NBA Finals, tears welled up in his eyes. Fisher then had trouble keeping his composure in a postgame television interview.

“He was very emotional,” said Lakers forward Luke Walton. “It was emotional to see him emotional.”

Fisher last year stepped up with some fine play after a disastrous early run in the playoffs to help the Lakers beat Orlando for the NBA title. And in these Finals, at 35, he was hearing the same rumblings about how time had passed him by. In the first two games, he averaged 7.5 points on 5-of-18 shooting, including watching opposing point guard Rajon Rondo put up a triple-double in the Celtics‘ 103-94 win in Game 2.

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BOSTON — No one saw Ray Allen’s last miss.

Kevin Garnett was jawing with Derek Fisher, no doubt questioning him and the official on an offensive foul that stole Boston’s last chance at Game 3 of the NBA Finals with 32 seconds left. Allen had kept rolling to the hoop off the high screen, the Celtics guard all alone when he blew a layup that — had the whistle not been blown — would have cut the Lakers’ lead to three.

Call it the mercy miss.

The loss was bad enough, with the Lakers’ 91-84 win at TD Banknorth Garden dimming the lights on this electric city while giving them the 2-1 lead. Allen was even worse, missing all 13 of his attempts just one game after setting a Finals record with eight three-pointers in Game 2.

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BOSTON — Both Phil Jackson and Doc Rivers played in the NBA, and both made the successful transition to coaching in the league, but never has their contrasting personalities been more evident than it was Tuesday night before Game 3 even began.

They were asked the same question. Their answers were so different.

In reference to Michigan State coach Tom Izzo possibly becoming the next coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, both were asked why successful college coaches in the past have failed so often in the NBA.

Jackson, who has won 10 NBA titles, said it was because the job in the NBA is just more difficult. Rivers, who has won one title, said it was merely that the college coaches always have been saddled with bad teams.

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LOS ANGELES — Rajon Rondo sat in front of his locker with ice bags on his knees after one of the most memorable showings of his four-year career. A triple-double in the NBA Finals.

Not only did Boston win a pivotal game over the Lakers on Sunday night at the Staples Center, but Rondo was asked if perhaps this game finally might get people to start pronouncing his first name correctly.

“If they don’t know now, they probably won’t ever know,” said the Celtics point guard. “They’ve been butchering my name for 17 years.”

While one wonders if perhaps people got the name of Rondo, 24, right for his first seven years or he just became famous at the age of 7, let’s stop to provide the official pronunciation. It’s Rah-John, not Ray-John.

The Celtics already have a Ray in Allen, and he owned the first half by scoring 27 of his 32 points in a 103-94 win that tied the series 1-1. But Rondo had ownership of the second half by scoring 13 of his 19 points, grabbing six of his 12 rebounds and handing out two of his 10 assists.

OK, so he didn’t get many assists after intermission. That’s what happened after Allen, who made his first seven three-pointers in the first half and finished 8 of 11 for the game, actually started missing some shots.

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LOS ANGELES — Ray Allen doesn’t have a jaw jut.

He doesn’t scowl, snarl or even smirk. When the Boston shooting guard lets his personality manifest itself in any sort of physical way on the public front, it’s usually with a smile, sometime between when he’s offering extra time to the fans and the media. His role in “He Got Game” not withstanding, he’s anything but Hollywood. He is, and has been for all of his 15 seasons in the league, the anti-Kobe Bryant in that sense.

Except in one area: his deceivingly-deadly ability to dominate.

For all the premature talk of Bryant’s alleged decline, Allen reminded us that he’s not done yet either as the Celtics evened the NBA Finals with a 103-94 win over the Lakers on Sunday night at Staples Center.

At 34 years old, and just months away from his own boss having nearly cut this AARP party short by trading him, he ran off screens and rose up for silky-smooth threes during a well-timed return to his future Hall of Famer form. His 32 points had come mostly in the first half, giving much-needed life to the Celtics after their opener left so little reason to expect this sort of series that suddenly looks primed to go seven games.

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LOS ANGELES — Late in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 103-94 Game 2 win over the Lakers, the Celtics were in the midst of an 8-0 run, holding a five-point lead with 1:35 remaining in the game. They had just gotten a defensive stop, secured the rebound and were looking to advance the ball past half court. The only problem was that time was running out, as they were seven seconds deep into their shot clock and in danger of turning the ball back over to the Lakers with an eight-second violation.

That’s when Celtics coach Doc Rivers stepped in — literally. The coach frantically tried to wave down the officials to call a time out, but when he feared they may not see him in time, he ran onto the court to make the call, which was granted. Boston maintained possession, and went on to seal the victory.

Video of the play, and reaction from both Rivers and Phil Jackson, follows below.

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LOS ANGELES — Mark Jackson played in the NBA for 17 seasons, and currently serves as a television analyst for ESPN and ABC. There’s no question he knows plenty about the game of professional basketball, but he’s never spent any time on the bench in a coaching role at any level of the sport.

Since Jackson is currently in the interview process for a head coaching position — most recently with the Atlanta Hawks, as reported by FanHouse’s Sam Amick — this may seem like a legitimate concern.

In another exclusive interview with FanHouse on Saturday, however, Jackson did his best to put those concerns to rest. While he did agree that a team would have to make somewhat of a leap of faith if it gave him a head coaching position with his lack of experience specifically in that role, Jackson also pointed out some similar cases where the lack of experience wasn’t even remotely an issue.

“I think it depends on who’s doing the hiring,” Jackson said. “I think you’ve got great examples of it, just like any other hire. And then you have examples where it didn’t work. Doc Rivers was hired with no experience, and he’s as good as it gets as coaching goes.

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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — With the reports surfacing today that Celtics assistant coach Tom Thibodeau has accepted an offer from the Bulls to become their next head coach, it was only natural for the subject to come up at practice Saturday, as Boston continued its preparation for Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday.

Doc Rivers did his best to not comment too much on it, and refused to confirm that Thibodeau had actually taken the position. But he did talk a little about the situation, and was clear in pointing out that whatever happens with the man who has essentially been his defensive coordinator, it will not be a distraction during this series.

“It won’t have an impact, right now we’re focusing on basketball,” Rivers said. “I’m not going to confirm it. I hope it’s true, but we’re not going to comment on it, I can tell you that. We’re focused on the NBA Finals, and there’s two teams: there’s the Lakers and the Celtics, and that’s what we’re going to keep the focus on.

“But on Tom, he deserves a job. I think he’s the best candidate out there. I’ve said that for three years now. But other than that, we’re going to leave it at that.”

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Tom Thibodeau has agreed to become head coach of the Chicago Bulls, according to multiple reports published Saturday.

According to the Chicago-Sun Times, a source said that the Bulls offered Thibodeau a three-year deal Saturday morning and Thibodeau accepted a short time later. No official announcement will be made until after the NBA Finals, due to league restrictions on major announcements being made during the series.

The 50-year-old Celtics assistant is expected to remain with Boston until the NBA Finals are over.

Thibodeau met with Bulls executive vice president John Paxson and general manager Gar Forman in Los Angeles on the eve of Game 1. He apparently impressed them so much that he quickly became the favorite for the job.

Celtics head coach Doc Rivers would not confirm reports that Thibodeau has accepted the position, but “hopes it’s true” because he believes Thibodeau deserves the job.

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LOS ANGELES — Even after K.C. Jones retired in 1967 following a Hall of Fame playing career with the Celtics, he still had racial difficulties in the Boston area.

While coaching Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., from 1967-70, Jones tried to join a golf club near his home and found out blacks were not particularly welcome. But he was accepted at the Wellesley Country Club.

“I played out there, and then two days later I was flying somewhere,” Jones recalled. “So I’m standing by the bathroom and this white guy comes up to me who belonged to the club, and said, ‘We don’t have entertainers at our country club.’ So there was still racism a little … I just left the club over the incident.”

It was against this backdrop Jones had starred for the Celtics from 1958-67, a team that never appeared to have any racial problems. The Celtics, under coach and general manager Red Auerbach, had an all-black starting lineup for a stretch in 1964-65. And it was Auerbach who named player-coach Bill Russell as the first African-American coach in NBA history in 1966 and would hire Jones as the team’s third black coach in 1983.

The historical significance of the Celtics being led by black coaches has come into focus during the NBA Finals between Boston and the Los Angeles Lakers. If Doc Rivers, the fifth African-American coach the team has had, can steer the Celtics to victory, he would become just the third black coach in NBA history to have won multiple titles, joining Russell, victorious in 1968 and 1969, and Jones, who won in 1984 and 1986.

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LOS ANGELES — Guard Nate Robinson hasn’t played in seven of Boston’s 18 postseason games and logged less than a minute in two others. But he insists that won’t cloud his judgment this summer.

Robinson, who will be an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his five-year career, said he definitely has interest in re-signing with the Celtics if they want him back.

“Of course,” Robinson said in an interview Friday with FanHouse, a day after Boston fell 102-89 in Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the Lakers.

Even though the 5-foot-9 Robinson’s playing time has been erratic, he said he likes the way the Celtics have treated him since he was acquired Feb. 19 from New York.

“I feel wanted here,” said Robinson, who averaged 6.5 points in 14.7 minutes in 26 Boston regular-season games, but has seen his numbers drop in the postseason to 3.4 points in 6.4 minutes in the 11 games he has played.

“This group of guys, this team, this organization is good for me. They’re high class, man. They keep it 100 percent (real) with you. Doc (Rivers, the coach) keeps it 100 percent. He tells you straight forward what he wants. I like that.”

As for New York, where Robinson spent his first 4 ½ seasons, he didn’t have as much praise for the Knicks despite playing a lot more for them.

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LOS ANGELES — Brian Scalabrine went to USC, UCLA’s archrival. But all the Boston forward could do was say touching things Thursday night about legendary Bruins coach John Wooden.

“I don’t think there’s anybody out there who hated John Wooden,” Scalabrine said.

The Celtics and the Lakers played Game 1 of the NBA Finals about 10 miles from UCLA Medical Center, where Wooden, 99, was reported by several media outlets to be in grave condition.

Tributes were heard throughout the Staples Center about Wooden. There was reverence for the coach, who steered UCLA to 10 NCAA titles before retiring after his final one in 1975.

“It’s really sad,” said Boston coach Doc Rivers, who listed Wooden along with Red Auerbach and Muhammad Ali as among people he can name on one hand he’s asked for an autograph. “I wish we all were that good, that decent. Forget the coaching part.

“He’s a legend. If there’s a coaching logo, at least in college, he’s it. He’s the Jerry West (who’s on the NBA logo). I admire him more because he’s such a decent human being. At 48, I’d like to be as sharp as he was yesterday.”

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LOS ANGELES — Most of us expected these Finals between the Lakers and the Celtics to be as physical as they come, and it didn’t take long at all for that to be demonstrated on the basketball court.

Just 27 seconds into the game, Ron Artest and Paul Pierce got tangled up — basically wrestling each other to the ground — before play was stopped and the officials stepped in.

The ever-harmless double technical fouls were assessed to Pierce and Artest, but that early play set the tone for the rest of the first quarter, if not for the entire game.

Kobe Bryant, Ron Artest, Derek Fisher, and Ray Allen each picked up two personal fouls in the tightly-whistled first quarter, resulting in early trips to the bench for each. But the foul trouble seemed to have the most profound effect on Allen, who never was able to get into a rhythm after being forced out of the game early on.

“I watched the game from the sideline tonight,” Allen said. “It was frustrating. I got a bad whistle tonight. What can you do?”

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BOSTON — No one really believed Coach Doc Rivers — they all figured it was just typical coach speak — when he first said almost two months ago that often-maligned and hardly used Nate Robinson was going to win a playoff game for the Boston Celtics one day.

No one except Nate Robinson, who clung to those words like a security blanket, waking up every morning still believing what his coach said would happen.

Most everyone else had forgotten. Not Robinson, who has been crossing off days on his calendar since the playoffs began, like a kid crossing off days leading up to Christmas morning.

His belief finally paid off, getting the chance and delivering the high-octane boast Friday night to carry the Celtics to a 96-84 Game 6 victory over the Orlando Magic, putting them back in the NBA Finals.

He won the game that mattered the most.

“I was beginning to think, we’re running out of games, when is this day going to happen?” Robinson said. “But they say good things come to those who wait patiently. And I did.”

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BOSTON — What, them worry?

A little thing like becoming the biggest chokers in NBA history wasn’t going to bother the Celtics, even if it had the rest of Massachusetts unable to breathe. Now the players are right where they expected to be.

“The Finals,” Paul Pierce said.

Boston’s not only the first team in, it should be favored to beat the Lakers or Suns. That thought was crazy just a month ago, but losing is believing. And if LeBron James and Dwight Howard can lose to the Old Gang Green, Kobe Bryant sure can.

“Nobody believed in us,” Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck said as he accepted the Eastern Conference trophy.

That’s a tiresome line, but in this case it’s true. The Celtics finished the latter part of the season 27-27 and went into the playoffs smoking like a ’72 Vega with bald tires. Who knew it was all part of a grand plan?

“He stuck to the script the whole time,” Ray Allen said.

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BOSTON — Celtics coach Doc Rivers will substitute Glen Davis like he always does as a backup center and power forward, but he will do it with some trepidation Friday night in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Orlando Magic.

Davis has been cleared to play after sustaining a concussion Wednesday night in Orlando, providing Rivers the depth he needs in the frontcourt, yet leaving him a little uneasy in a series that has grown increasingly more physical.

“Doc is just a nickname. I just know he’s been cleared to play, but there is always concern. I’m always concerned about my players,” Rivers said Friday, less than an hour before the game began. “He had to see several doctors to get clearance, and he passed all the tests.”

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In the land of bad ideas — where everyone sips New Coke while driving an Edsel en route to dime-beer and Sixers letter-opener night at the Wachovia Center — you can also see an NBA game in which the same person plays and coaches.

Bad idea.

In the NBA’s less conspicuous and quainter days, the player-coach hybrid was often born out of financial necessity (e.g. cheap owners) when every team ran on a Chuck Taylor shoestring. It was an idea whose time had come and gone with Dave Cowens, the NBA’s last player-coach in 1979. Or so I thought.

Share But the theory of a player also assuming the clipboard duties has recently gained traction thanks to an NBA coaching carousel that never seems to stop spinning. On Monday, not long, after the Cleveland Cavaliers kicked Mike Brown to the curb, my esteemed FanHouse colleague Tim Povtak floated the idea that LeBron James should become coach in Cleveland.

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BOSTON — All the championship experience in the world isn’t going to help the Boston Celtics Friday night if their legs start getting heavy again.

They may be running out of gas.

The Celtics still lead this peak-and-valley ride of an Eastern Conference final against the Orlando Magic, 3-2, but the wear and tear of a long season, coupled with the physical pounding of three playoff series, has begun to show. The momentum has shifted dramatically.

If the Celtics can’t deliver their knockout punch early tonight in Game 6, it likely won’t ever come. A potential Game 7 is slated for Sunday in Orlando.

In winning the first three games, the Celtics scored first on baskets by Paul Pierce and quickly took double-digit leads. They controlled the pace and broke the spirit of the Magic. In the next two the Celtics lost, it was the Magic who took early control, increased the speed of the game, and outran the Celtics at the end.

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The NBA wonders why it has such an image problem, why hard-core fans still believe that outcomes are influenced by the desires of the league office, why most everyone thinks there are different standards for different players when it comes to officials.

It’s because of rulings like Thursday’s, allowing Celtics center Kendrick Perkins to play in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Orlando Magic. It’s not a surprising move by the NBA — it was almost expected — and it certainly feeds the conspiracy theory.

A Lakers/Celtics Finals is best for everyone.

It’s called selective enforcement of the rules, which the league has mastered, which leads to improving the odds of one team over another. Is it right? No. Does it happen? It just did.

The league did itself no favors with this one, taking back the technical foul it called against Perkins Wednesday night in Game 5, which allows him to play Friday.

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Over the years, as NBA referees attempt to wrest control of the game back from increasingly vocal players who complain about every other whistle (or non-whistle), officials have turned to the double-technical, in which a player from each team is assessed a technical foul and no free throws or change of possession is taken. It has, effectively, become a warning system for NBA refs. When Marcin Gortat and Kendrick Perkins got physical with each other early in Game 5 in Orlando Wednesday night, the crew assessed a double-technical to calm things down. It seemed like a good, fair move to calm the players down a bit and establish control.

Except that those techs still count on each player’s individual tally. Perkins now has earned seven technicals this postseason — and five of them have come on a double-technical. Unless the league rescinds one of Perkins’ two techs from Wednesday night (the Celtics center was ejected in the second quarter after picking up his second), Perkins will miss Friday’s Game 6 in Boston due to reaching the suspension threshold of seven for the postseason.

Is it fair that most of these have come on double-technicals? Boston coach Doc Rivers doesn’t think so, and I tend to agree.

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ORLANDO, Fla. — Magic center Dwight Howard was assessed his second flagrant foul of the playoffs — halfway toward a one-game suspension — earlier Wednesday after the NBA reviewed the tape of a foul he committed in Game 4 in Boston against the Celtics.

And naturally, the two head coaches disagreed over whether the flagrant foul was merited. Howard grabbed a rebound and turned and hit Boston forward Kevin Garnett in the face with an elbow. It looked accidental, and he was called for a personal foul.

“He got a rebound and pivoted,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. When asked a second question about the flagrant, he repeated himself. “He got a rebound and pivoted.”

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BOSTON — The Boston Celtics are going to Disney World, but they aren’t happy about it this time.

The Magic avoided an embarrassing sweep in the Eastern Conference final, beating the Celtics, 96-92, Monday night in overtime to force a Game 5 in Orlando on Wednesday.

The Magic used a pair of 3-pointers by Jameer Nelson to open the scoring in overtime, then held on with two dunks by Dwight Howard to beat the Celtics in Game 4.

The game went into overtime when each team missed a chance to score in the final seconds over regulation. Jameer Nelson missed a shot at one end, then Paul Pierce mishandled the ball at the other.

Hero of the Day

Dwight Howard, who was widely criticized for a lackluster performance in Game 3, came up big in Game 4 with 32 points, 16 rebounds and four blocked shots, including a key one in overtime. Howard still struggled at the free throw line, but it didn’t matter when he scored quickly before he could be fouled.

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BOSTON — The Cleveland Cavaliers could save themselves a lot of time and effort (and money) if they take that list of potential head coaches — Phil Jackson, Mike Krzyzewski, John Calipari and anyone else with a big name — and just rip it to shreds.

Ask LeBron James to coach the team. He’d be flattered. He probably would stay in Cleveland to do it, too.

Seriously.

Why not James? And why not now? Imagine the attention, and marketing opportunities. Imagine the buzz and historic implications. The King and His Court — literally.

None of the other guys are going to win more games than freshly-fired Mike Brown did — 127 in the last two years — so why not let James give it a whirl? Everyone thought he was coaching the team before, anyway.

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BOSTON — The Boston Celtics who won the NBA title in 2008 won 16 more regular season games than these current Celtics did.

But this team might be better — even if they won’t admit it just yet.

After a season of injuries and inconsistencies, of being written off and beaten down, of 50 wins and a No. 4 seeding in the Eastern Conference, these Celtics have staged a miraculous rise to the top, rolling through the playoffs looking stronger than they did two years ago.

This team didn’t have the home court advantage beyond the first round, but it didn’t need it either, not like that 2008 team did, clinging to the Garden floor that year like a security blanket.

This team went to Cleveland in the second round and stunned the top-seeded Cavaliers, turning that franchise upside down. The Celtics went to Orlando and broke the spirit of the second-seeded Magic, preparing them for a potential sweep Monday night, preparing themselves for another trip to the NBA Finals.

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BOSTON – Just before he walked off the stage at his post-game press conference Saturday night, point guard Rajon Rondo turned back to chest-thumping, irascible teammate Kevin Garnett - the 11-time All-Star, future Hall of Famer, 10 inches taller – and gave him a playful cuff across the back of his head, the kind of thing a captain would do to a rookie. For just an instant, Garnett looked startled. Then he grinned knowingly.

It was a passing of the torch.

This was Rondo’s team now.

A role-playing little brother to the Big Three when the Boston Celtics won their 2008 NBA Championship, Rondo now will lead them into battle, into the NBA Finals against the Lakers, when this Eastern Conference final mercifully and officially ends Monday night.

The Celtics mauled the Orlando Magic, 94-71, to take a 3-0 lead in this best-of-seven series, riding Rondo’s grit and leadership, including one miraculous defensive play that will be measured against others in the rich and storied Celtic lore.

More than anyone else on this team, more than Paul Pierce, Ray Allen or Garnett – all of whom will be in the Hall of Fame one day – Rondo has led them through this surprising, almost stunning run through the playoffs, turning them from a No. 4 seed into a championship favorite.

Bring on the Lakers.

In two years, Rondo has grown from a stay-out-of-the-way point guard to the catalyst who makes them go, the spark that has lit the championship fire once again.

“He’s earned the respect of every guy on the team,” Garnett remarked. “I said this about Shorty: he’s in a zone. He’s just showing the world now what he’s made of. The future is scary.”

Although Rondo, in his fourth year, became an All-Star this season for the first time, these playoffs have become his crowning moment, allowing him to take his rightful place. A reputation is being made this month.

The Celtics, after an up-and-down regular season, stunned the top seeded Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James in the conference semifinal round, sending shock waves through the league.

They have embarrassed the No. 2 seeded Magic, spanking them like children, taking away their hope. It’s Rondo, who handles the ball like it’s on a string, that has turned the Magic into puppets at his disposal.

Lakers point guard Derek Fisher, with all his championship rings, must be having nightmares already.

Rondo made the play of the game, arguably the play of these playoffs, in the second quarter Saturday with the Celtics establishing control. He chased down a loose ball in the backcourt by outhustling Orlando’s Jason Williams, dove around his legs, then popped up with the ball before his slide had finished, and scored, sending the crowd into a frenzy.

“It was probably one of the toughest plays defensively I’ve seen in my career,” Allen said. “It’s one thing to have the ball and make something miraculous happen, but not having the ball and making something miraculous happen, then score with it, that was awesome.”

Adding to his blinding drives, his lofty shots over Dwight Howard and his passes through key holes, Rondo has inspired a grizzled, veteran team to new heights.

“My reaction was just like everyone else’s – pure grit, pure hustle, pure basketball, pure I-want-it-more-than-you type of play,” Garnett said. “He’s so mentally tough. Just when you think he can’t handle certain things, he challenges himself.”

Rondo didn’t even shoot well Saturday. He made only four of 14 shots, but he still controlled the game. He had 11 points, 12 assists and four steals. Just like he outplayed point guard Mo Williams of Cleveland, he has tortured point guard Jameer Nelson, who was having a great playoff run until he met Rondo.

Although Deron Williams in Utah has pronounced himself the league’s best point guard, and Steve Nash and Chris Paul may disagree, Rondo may be rising above all of them.

He has averaged 17.3 points, 10.7 assists and 2.1 steals, playing a yeoman-like 42 minutes per game. Magic Coach Doc Rivers won’t trust his team to anyone else now.

“What he’s doing is leading this team,” Rivers said. “He has a great sense of what to call out there. And now he’s giving amazing effort, never giving up on any possession. When you have that speed and have that heart, you become a pretty good player.”

As stunning as its win over Cleveland was, Boston’s demolition of the Magic has been even more impressive. The Magic came into this series riding a 14-game winning streak (including playoffs and regular season), but they have been stripped of all pride, losing their will to compete, looking helpless against the all-powerful Celtics.

The Celtics were so dominant early that it looked like they were playing defense with six men on the court. And on Rondo’s defensive gem, maybe they were.

“I just wanted it,” Rondo said. “We dove for loose balls. We took charges, did all the little things on the court. It was just fun to be out there and be a part of this.”

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BOSTON — The Boston Celtics didn’t just crush the Orlando Magic Saturday night. They beat the Magic so thoroughly, they screamed “uncle,” as in waving the white flag in surrender. They made them quit.

There is no need for Game 4 Monday night.

The Celtics took a 3-0 lead in this Eastern Conference final with their most decisive victory in the series, pounding the overmatched Magic, 94-71, setting their sights on another NBA championship.

Hero Of The Day

Boston point guard Rajon Rondo, a role player on 2008 NBA championship team, clearly has become the leader and catalyst throughout these playoffs. Rondo continued his incredible playoff run Saturday. He didn’t shoot well in Game 3, but he still controlled the game, getting 11 points, 12 assists and three steals, completely befuddling the Magic all night.

Turning Point

How about the opening jump, which meant another awful start for the Magic. In the first three minutes, before they got their first point, the Magic had two turnovers by Jameer Nelson, two missed free throws by Dwight Howard and an offensive foul by Rashard Lewis.

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BOSTON — There was a good reason why the Celtics didn’t worry too much about winning games during the regular season to secure that often-coveted, always-talked-about, home-court advantage at playoff time.

There is none in Boston, anymore.

Home court advantage — once so powerful — has become just an illusion here.

For all the history and tradition of the NBA‘s most storied franchise, for all the chest-thumping it invokes, for all the statistics that prove how much the home court means across the league, the Celtics strangely have become the exception.

It’s what worries Celtics coach Doc Rivers as they approach Game 3 of the Eastern Conference final against the Orlando Magic Saturday night. Coming home with a 2-0 lead isn’t quite the hammer it once was.

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The NBA suspended referee Joe DeRosa for one game without pay for throwing a ball to a heckling fan earlier this week.

During halftime of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals between the Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic, DeRosa approached press row with the rest of the officiating crew to retrieve his jacket before heading to the locker room when he reacted to a fan standing behind press row yelling at him by picking up a ball and firing a chest pass in his direction.

The fan, Franz Hanning, who happens to be a personal friend of Celtics coach Doc Rivers and the CEO of Wyndham Vacation Ownership, immediately flipped the ball back to DeRosa while continuing his heckling, prompting DeRosa to request security personnel to remove him. Hanning watched the rest of the game from a different seat.

DeRosa, a veteran official with two decades of experience, will be suspended for the next game he was scheduled to work but otherwise appears eligible to continue working the NBA playoffs.

Hanning downplayed the incident in an e-mailed statement to the Orlando Sentinel earlier this week. “As many people in Orlando know, I am a huge fan of NBA basketball and especially my home team the Orlando Magic,” the statement read. “I think the NBA officials do a great job. I’m looking forward to the Magic going to Boston and evening up the series.”

The Celtics, leading the series 2-0, host the Magic for Game 3 at 8:30 p.m. ET Saturday in Boston.

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ORLANDO, Fla — Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy stands to make an incentive bonus worth close to $1 million if he can pull his team from an 0-2 deficit and rebound to win the Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Celtics.

The bonus is part of the contract extension he signed last summer, which carries him through the 2010-11 season.

According to two NBA sources familiar with league contracts, Van Gundy’s contract is filled with incentives that pay him based on how far the Magic advance in the playoffs.

When the Magic beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern finals and advanced to the NBA Finals a year ago, he made $1 million, in addition to his base salary, estimated at $4 million annually.

The incentive-based contracts are common among NBA head coaches, yet the amounts paid fluctuate. Celtics coach Doc Rivers, whose base salary is $5.5 million, also would receive a sizable bonus if his team advances to the NBA Finals, but his incentive to reach the Finals is less than Van Gundy’s.

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During halftime of Game 2 in the Eastern Conference finals, veteran NBA official Joe DeRosa was involved in a testy incident with a Magic fan near the scorer’s table. As DeRosa went over to the table to get his crew’s warmup jackets, a fan behind the table approached DeRosa and appeared to be shouting at him.

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ORLANDO — Vince Carter couldn’t hear the TV commentary Tuesday night. Or maybe he could.

“These are the moments he was acquired for,” one of the ESPN analysts said.

There were 34 seconds left in a huge game. The Magic trailed by three points. They got the ball to Carter who drove the lane and was fouled.

Clank. Clank.

It was the kind of moment that reminded everyone why you don’t acquire Carter for that kind of moment.

“When you are playing big games, it’s the little things that get you the win,” Dwight Howard said.

Boston is doing them and Orlando is not. The results speak for themselves, though they didn’t right away on Tuesday. Immediately after the Celtics‘ 95-92 win, Paul Pierce went before the media and spouted the requisite lingo.

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ORLANDO, Fla. — If you ask Boston center Kendrick Perkins, the best defensive player in the Eastern Conference final this week might not be the NBA‘s much-acclaimed Defensive Player of the Year.

It could be him. And after the Celtics‘ Game 1 victory over the Orlando Magic Sunday, he might have a decent case.

No one pushes around Dwight Howard like Perkins always seems to do.

“Anytime I step on the court, I feel like I’m the best defensive guy out there,” Perkins said Monday before practice in preparation for Game 2 Tuesday night. “I anchor our defense the right way. I might not be the most athletic big man, but I get the job done.”

Perkins, who often plays basketball with the anonymity of an offensive lineman, has become a key player in the Celtics’ surprising quest for another NBA title.

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He’s going to the Chicago Bulls.

Trust me.

Oh, and here’s another thing: When LeBron James switches his dribbling home around the Great Lakes from Erie to Michigan, he’ll bring his own coach with him.

It’ll be Doc Rivers.

Now you can move on with the rest of your lives.

What I just said isn’t a done deal, but only because it is slightly an eternity between now and July 1, when teams officially can begin negotiating with free agents. I mean, James could search deep into his soul, discover that he really doesn’t wish to leave the area of his birth and youth in northeastern Ohio and reverse some of those curses on Cleveland sports teams by declaring he’ll stay with the Cavaliers.

Then you have the Bulls, who could shrug over remaining in a free-fall since Michael Jordan left in the late 1990s and refuse to allow James to dictate the terms of his signing.

You also could have little green men invading Earth.

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ORLANDO, Fla. — Boston may not win the NBA championship. But after Sunday, the Celtics are heavily favored to lead the league in smudged legacies.

First they turned LeBron James from superhuman into human soap opera. Now they are turning Dwight Howard into a professional wrestler.

That’d be fine if the Magic were going for the WWE title. But the last thing they need is for their center to start doing an imitation of the Iron Sheik whenever he gets the ball.

“They want me to wrestle and fight with them,” Howard said. “That takes me off my game.”

How off was he in the opener of the Eastern Conference finals? Howard made 3 of 10 shots. He whined like a wrestler who just had his steroids confiscated. He let one of the league’s biggest headcases set up camp inside his noggin.

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ORLANDO, Fla. — Coaches Doc Rivers and Stan Van Gundy naturally were happy to have reached the Eastern Conference final — a little relieved, too — but neither was happy about what happened to their peers with the teams they beat to get here.

It’s just part of the profession.

Atlanta, swept by the Orlando Magic in the second round, already has severed ties with coach Mike Woodson, previously the longest tenured coach in the East.

Cleveland, upset by the Boston Celtics in the other conference semifinal, appears to be on the verge of firing coach Mike Brown. At least one media outlet has reported that the decision already has been made.

“It says either Stan, or I, had better be looking for a new address after this series,” said Rivers Sunday afternoon before Game 1 against the Magic. “Actually, it’s sad. Look at what Mike did in Atlanta, where he took that team from when he took over to where it is now. And look at Mike’s record in Cleveland. It’s unfortunate.”
“I’m pretty smart right now. But if we don’t win this series, I’ll be like every other coach who’s lost. I’ll be the biggest idiot in the world.”
– Magic Coach
Stan Van Gundy
Woodson lasted six seasons in Atlanta, opening with a 13-win season in 2005. The win total improved in each of the next five seasons. They won 53 games this season, and they reached the second round of the playoffs in each of the last two years.

Yet the disastrous sweep by the Magic overshadowed much of what he accomplished.

In Cleveland, Brown won 66 games last season. He won 61 games this season, more than anyone else for two consecutive seasons. Yet he lost to the Magic in the conference final last year. And he lost to the Celtics last week in the semifinal round.

“It’s amazing how you can go from smart to dumb in 6-7 days,” Van Gundy said. “Mike Woodson was pretty smart, then seven days later he was an idiot. Mike Brown won 70 percent of his games, and all of a sudden, he doesn’t know what he’s doing. It’s amazing.”

Like Rivers, Van Gundy was shaking his head at the way their profession works in such a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately mode.

Failing to live up to expectation can be a killer when it comes to keep your job. Rivers was fired in Orlando after four seasons, but he went on to win an NBA title in Boston. Van Gundy was fired in Miami after fewer than three seasons, but now has become the favorite to win a title in Orlando.

“I’m pretty smart right now,” Van Gundy said. “But if we don’t win this series, I’ll be like every other coach who’s lost. I’ll be the biggest idiot in the world.”

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BOSTON — There’s no complex explanation for the Boston Celtics beating the Cleveland Cavaliers in six games in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Celtics were simply better. Plain and simple. The better team won. The Celtics were smarter, played harder, played more mature, came up bigger in games that mattered most and simply outplayed Cleveland. Especially defensively.

Boston put the clamps on the Cavs in ways few teams have done — and especially put the clamps on LeBron James, who averaged 21.3 points the final three games and needed 53 shots to score 64 points. After taking a 2-1 series lead, James shot 18 for 53 in the final three games and had 19 turnovers.

Cleveland played the way it played all season — coasting and assuming it could turn on the switch when it was needed. That worked in the regular season, but in the playoffs things are different. And Boston, a team of veterans, understood.

“The playoffs come around, it’s time to pick it up a notch,” Boston’s Kevin Garnett said.

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BOSTON — The whys and how comes now take a backseat to the what: For the second year in a row, the Cleveland Cavaliers won more than 60 games, LeBron James won the MVP, and the team sent its fans home too soon and too disappointed.

The time might come soon enough when James leaves Cleveland crushed. He is fully expected to become a free agent when he opts out of the final year of his contract. Where he plays next season, nobody knows — not even James.

“I love the city of Cleveland, of course,” James said after he and the Cavs were sent home with a 94-85 loss to the Boston Celtics in Game 6. “The city, the fans. It was a disappointing season to say the least, but at the same time we had a great time together. We’ll see what happens.”

Hard for a Cavs fan to find a single word of comfort there about James staying and playing for his hometown team. Nor did he offer many others as he discussed his future. As he’s done all along, James continued to leave folks guessing about his upcoming free agency.

“First of all I want to win,” he said “That’s my only thing, my only concern right now. It’s all about winning for me. I think the Cavs (are) committed to doing that, but at the same time I’ve given myself options to this point.”

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CLEVELAND — Perhaps LeBron James has an elbow that has frittered away to nothing. Perhaps there is a torn ligament, a popped tendon, a bursa sac that is inflamed or a bone that is chipped. Perhaps there is another problem James is playing through but not revealing.

Because if there isn’t, there is little explanation or excuse for the way James and the Cleveland Cavaliers played in a critical Game 5 Tuesday night. James’ body language was awful from the tip, and his teammates followed. Boston won Game 5 convincingly, took a 3-2 series lead and gave the Cavs their worst home playoff loss ever, 120-88.

The LeBron James on the court Tuesday night in no way resembled the guy who has won consecutive MVPs and played with passion and fire no matter the score or situation. This guy wearing No. 23 for Cleveland carried himself more like a guy who had given up on his coach or already mentally hit free agency and signed with another team. Neither may be true. Shaquille O’Neal said the Cavs remain unified. But they sure didn’t carry themselves like they are.

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BOSTON — The play started with a poor pass by LeBron James and ended with a pass that electrified all of New England — or at least the ones watching. It came from a point guard who played as good a game as anyone has played in these playoffs, and it led to the Boston Celtics tying the Eastern Conference semifinal series with Cleveland at two games.

The score was 70-70 and the Cavaliers had clawed back into a game they probably should have been losing — a game the Cavs were outrebounded in, and one where they were beaten badly in hustle plays. Boston led by nine at halftime, and by 11 with 11:15 to go in the third quarter. By quarter’s end, though, Cleveland had the ball with a chance to take the lead.

But James had one of those possessions where he gets into no-man’s-land, and he threw an errant pass to the corner that Glen Davis intercepted. Davis immediately flew the ball ahead to Rajon Rondo and he dribbled toward the basket with James in close pursuit. James was chasing him down, lining up the upcoming layup to block it, his personal forte. Rondo leaped, raised the ball as if to lay it in. James leaped, ready to block the shot.

But Rondo suddenly pulled the ball back, then whipped it behind his back as James flew by. The ball went right to Tony Allen, whose dunk gave Boston an 72-70 lead and more energy than 10 Cape Wind projects off Nantucket.

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INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — How bad was Cleveland’s wretched Game 2 playoff loss to Boston Monday night?

In the last 10 years, only once has a top seed lost at home by a larger margin.

Cleveland’s 104-86 defeat ties the second worst home loss for a top seed, matching Indiana’s 83-65 loss to Detroit in 2004. Those were topped only by San Antonio’s 113-91 loss to Dallas in 2006.

This would make the Cavs’ bleak effort against Boston rather epic in scale. It was a loss that defies logic because a team playing for a title played flat-out poor. Boston played well, but the way Cleveland played left its fan base shaken and its coach lambasting his team. Tuesday he had cooled off — but he also had gotten his message across to his players.

“I think we can play better,” Mike Brown said. “I know we can play better. And I know I can help them more.”

That still leaves questions unanswered.

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INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — How bad was Cleveland’s wretched Game 2 playoff loss to Boston Monday night?

In the last 10 years, only once has a top seed lost at home by a larger margin.

Cleveland’s 104-86 defeat ties the second worst home loss for a top seed, matching Indiana’s 83-65 loss to Detroit in 2004. Those were topped only by San Antonio’s 113-91 loss to Dallas in 2006.

This would make the Cavs’ bleak effort against Boston rather epic in scale. It was a loss that defies logic because a team playing for a title played flat-out poor. Boston played well, but the way Cleveland played left its fan base shaken and its coach lambasting his team. Tuesday he had cooled off — but he also had gotten his message across to his players.

“I think we can play better,” Mike Brown said. “I know we can play better. And I know I can help them more.”

That still leaves questions unanswered.

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CLEVELAND — The feel of a playoff series can change dramatically from one game to another, and that happened Monday night at Quicken Loans Arena. A solid effort from the Boston Celtics combined with a lackluster one from Cleveland sent the Celtics to Boston with the series tied one game apiece.

The fact that Boston won was damaging in and of itself. What made it worse was that the Celtics won easily, by 18, and did it by making almost no adjustments from Game 1 to Game 2. The message: Boston believes its approach can work, and it showed it Monday night by beating the Cavs 104-86 in a game that really was not that close.

“I think,” guard Ray Allen said, “we did everything we set out to do game-plan wise.”

This Eastern Conference semifinal might be an example of a team leading a series that is tied.

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MIAMI — The Boston Celtics suddenly don’t look so old and tired and beaten up anymore.

While the top-seeds in each conference — Cavs and Lakers — stumbled in their quest for a quick first-round series, the previously overlooked and over-aged Celtics may have found the magical elixir that could stir up the ghosts and dust off the banners of the NBA’s most storied franchise.

It’s the playoff fountain of youth.

The marathon regular season, that exposed them so badly they could have been left on the side of the road, has turned into a playoff adrenaline rush that has them believing one more push for a championship has begun.

Share“It is very realistic at this point. We feel like we are a championship team,” said forward Paul Pierce after a meeting Saturday afternoon at the team hotel. “It’s a great time of year to be finding the consistency, the momentum, that we struggled with the whole season. We’re peaking at the right time. And if that happens, anything is possible.”

It was Pierce Friday night who put the dagger into the Miami Heat with his 21-foot, walk-off winning jumper, giving the Celtics a 3-0 series lead. They could finish the sweep Sunday afternoon, which would give them some real momentum heading into a second-round matchup, likely against the Cavaliers.

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The Boston Celtics showed enough resolve and resiliency Tuesday to overcome Kevin Garnett‘s suspension and take a commanding 2-0 series lead over the Miami Heat with a convincing 106-77 win.

In addition to Ray Allen‘s 3-point shooting barrage — he shot 7-for-9 from long-distance, finishing with 25 points — the Celtics were led by a superb performance from Glen Davis, who supplanted Garnett in the starting line-up and provided the perfect blend of scoring help and rebounding efforts with 23 points and eight boards.

The C’s used a deadly 21-0 run in the second quarter to turn a four-point deficit into a 17-point lead, not allowing the Heat to score for nearly nine minutes of play. Davis finished the period with nearly as many points (8) as the entire Miami roster (10), helping to put the game away early.

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An aging and proud Celtics outfit trying to make one last stand? A No. 4 seed seeking to defy the odds? A coach who might be in his last season with the team?

It’s been seen before in Boston. And it resulted in the Celtics winning the most surprising of their NBA-record 17 championships.

The Celtics, who had won 10 of the previous 12 titles, went 48-34 in 1968-69, pedestrian by their standards. They were an old team featuring legendary player-coach Bill Russell, who would retire from both jobs after the season. And, as the No. 4 seed in the East during a time when only eight teams made the playoffs, they would have to win three straight series without homecourt advantage to claim the crown.

The Celtics did just that. They stunned the heavily favored Los Angeles Lakers in seven games in the NBA Finals, and Russell limped off into the sunset.

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Celtics coach Doc Rivers on Wednesday refuted a Boston Herald story that he is packing his bags at the end of the season.

The Herald article reported that “It is quite possible Doc Rivers is nearing the end of his run as coach of the Celtics. Sources have told the Herald that he is leaning toward leaving the bench after this season, but Rivers insisted yesterday no final decision has been made.”

The Celtics coach, however, told the Boston Globe Wednesday afternoon that the rumors are not true. “Like I said, it’s a non-story. Nothing new,” Rivers said. “Same as after the last three seasons.”

Rivers has one year left on his contract. Each summer, Rivers said he sits down with his family to discuss his future.

After winning the NBA title in 2008 the Celtics have been plagued with injuries. The loss of 13-time NBA All-Star Kevin Garnett may have cost the Celtics in last year’s playoffs.

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You’ve heard of a Kelly girl, the quintessential temp worker? Well, Jerry Stackhouse wants to be a Kelly guy.

He’s off to a good start since he wears a green uniform like those temporary workers of yore.

Stackhouse, 35, joined the Milwaukee Bucks midway through the season after receiving no offers previously for a guaranteed contract. Stackhouse is averaging 8.1 points for a team that is 23-8 since he first suited up Jan. 20.

It’s gone so well Stackhouse is thinking he’d like to continue with this job of being a temporary NBA player. So next season, in order to keep additional wear and tear off his aging body, he might again wait until the campaign is half over to join a team.

“I might just try to do the same route I did this year,” said the shooting guard, who signed Jan. 18 after Milwaukee had lost starting shooting guard Michael Redd for the season due to a knee injury. “Just kind of catch on, hook on (midway through next season) to rest the legs a little bit longer.”

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It takes a really old guy to make every Celtic feel young.

Michael Finley, born when Nixon was in the White House, is that guy. So it was no surprise the 37-year-old shooting guard has heard ample ribbing since he arrived in Boston earlier this month and became the Celtics‘ most senior citizen.

“I’ve heard all the jokes that I’m the oldest guy on the team, and that Rasheed (Wallace) and Kevin (Garnett) are not the oldest anymore,” Finley said.

Some of those jokes come from Wallace, 35, and Garnett, soon to be 34, who realize there aren’t a lot of guys who can make them seem young. And some come from other Boston players.

“He is one of those guys who I first saw play when I was in diapers,” said guard Rajon Rondo, 24.

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SALT LAKE CITY — Doc Rivers would like it known he’s hopeful he did nothing Monday to offend the good family folks in Utah.

The Boston coach was ejected with 1:11 left in a 110-97 loss to the Jazz at EnergySolutions Arena. But he kept it clean.

“I just said, ‘Keep officiating the game,”’ Rivers said of what he uttered to official Ed Malloy. “That’s all I said. I didn’t swear. I’m in Utah. I respect that.”

It all started with the Jazz leading 107-94, and Rivers already having sat down his starters for the night. Even though the game was out of reach, Rivers felt a Utah player should have been called for traveling.

“I said, ‘Hey Ed, it’d be nice if you just kept officiating the game throughout,”’ Rivers said. “And he gave me a tech. And then I said, ‘That’s the best call you’ve made all night.”’

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SALT LAKE CITY — In case you didn’t notice, Paul Pierce last week went on what he called a “vacation.”

Wait a minute. The Boston forward has averaged 28.0 points his past three games and Monday was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week. That doesn’t sound like much of a junket to Bora Bora.

Actually, Pierce’s vacation was from the media. Until after Monday morning’s shootaround at EnergySolutions Arena in preparation for the evening game against Utah, Pierce hadn’t talked to reporters for just over a week.

“I took a vacation,” Pierce said. “I just needed a mental break. That’s all. It wasn’t nothing personal.”

Speaking of vacations and breaks, Pierce now looks back and wonders if that’s what he needed more of last month and early this month when he was battling foot, knee and hand injuries. He believes he rushed back too soon and it hampered his play.

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CLEVELAND — LeBron James‘ vision was fuzzy for a good 15 minutes after he took a shot to the eye from Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics on Sunday.

That didn’t affect the Cavs, who saw clearly enough to spank the Celtics back to Boston with a 104-93 win.

As for the Celtics, they’re still trying to see their future, both short- and long-term. Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are not getting younger, and coach Doc Rivers admitted he is trying to point to the playoffs.

“Our goal … is to get us at our peak when the playoffs start and see where we are at,” Rivers said. “But we’ve got to get there and we have to work there. We have a lot of work to do.”

Especially since the Celtics were outworked on Sunday.

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DENVER — Delivering last rites to the Boston Celtics has been a popular activity lately.

The Celtics had dropped five of eight and eight of 13 (choose your favorite dry spell) entering the All-Star Break. But they just went 3-1 on a West Coast road trip so put the shovels back in the shed for at least a little while.

The trip included a 95-92 win at Sacramento (OK, the Kings are lowly) and an 87-86 win at the Los Angeles Lakers (OK, the Lakers didn’t have Kobe Bryant). But Friday’s 96-76 rout at Portland was impressive and there was no shame in falling 114-105 Sunday at Denver.

Yes, it was ugly falling behind by 20 points in the first quarter. But the Celtics did tie the score 66-66 in the third quarter before running out of petrol at the end. Eastern teams tend to do that when playing in the high altitude of Denver on the final game of a swing out West.

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