News 1/23

[FLCeltsFan]

www.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/celtics/view.bg?articleid=1068435&format=text

Doc orders dose of poise
As foes turn up heat, C’s need to keep cool

By Steve Bulpett | Wednesday, January 23, 2008 | www.bostonherald.com | Boston Celtics

Photo by Herald file
Glenn “Doc” Rivers majored in pre-law/political science at Marquette, but he’s somewhat of a history buff, as well.

Especially when it involves his own team losing its cool and a playoff series. In other words, Rivers hasn’t let go of the seven-game meltdown against the Pacers in 2005. He can’t.

So the Celtics [team stats] coach was rather disturbed when his lads engaged in extracurricular discussions with the Knicks Monday afternoon. Upon further review, with the incidents at a day’s distance, well, he was still pretty cheesed off.

“I didn’t like it even more,” he said after yesterday’s practice. “But we’ve approached it. We’ve talked about it, and it’s over.

“But we have a history, and I don’t forget that. Of all the things that were involved, we lost that Indiana series because of composure,” he added, harkening back to Paul Pierce [stats] and Antoine Walker getting caught up in the madness. “And I’ll never forget that lesson. We have to understand that. This is a completely different group obviously, but there are still lessons to be learned. And we have to watch ourselves, because people are going to attack us. And they should.”

The group isn’t “completely different,” as evidenced by Pierce getting ejected Monday for two double-technicals with Quentin Richardson. Pierce defended himself yesterday in his first public discussion of the matter.

“Well, I just got a bad break with the calls,” he said. “I really didn’t think I did anything to warrant a second technical, but I guess the jibbering and jabbering by Q got overexaggerated and he decided to kick us both out.”

Asked what had Richardson so upset, Pierce said, “I have no idea what’s going on in their locker room or what type of issues any other player is having with me. It’s hard to really pinpoint it.

“We’ve just got to understand we’re a target out there and teams are going to come at us a different way than they have in the past,” Pierce added. “It has been like that for a while now. Teams have been coming out talking to us and trying to get us out of our game. It’s something we’ve got to be aware of and not get caught up into it.”

Rivers had no idea why Pierce did on this occasion.

“The scoreboard is the talk, and that’s what I told them,” he said. “You’re up by 18 points. You don’t want to say a word.

“You want to stay intense. What I told the guys is that we’re an intense team. We are a team that plays with an amazing amount of energy, and there’s a fine line. And we’ve got to stay on that line. We don’t ever want to be on the wrong side of it.”

Pierce agreed as he blamed rough play and an official’s overreaction.

“It definitely is a tough line because you don’t want to come off as being intimidated,” he said. “I think in my case (Monday) I felt I got intentionally fouled like three times in a row. Teams are going to try to do that to us, and we’re a team that’s not going to back down from anybody. But at the same time we’ve just got to do . . . or I have to do a better job of keeping my composure. In my eyes, I felt like I didn’t lose my composure. It was just a judgment of the ref.”

As for the chippiness between the Celts and Knicks, Pierce said, “It’s hard to pinpoint it. When we play against the Knicks it’s a heated game. I think that’s just the way New York and Boston sports are. With the Super Bowl, with the New York Yankees and Red Sox [team stats] - it’s just the way New York and Boston is.”

Whether it’s with the Knicks or other teams, Rivers believes the Celtics will have their poise tested again.

“If we don’t I’d be shocked,” he said. “And we’re going to have different (tests), probably ones that the coaches haven’t even anticipated yet.”

[FLCeltsFan]

www.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/celtics/view.bg?articleid=1068433&format=text

Stars hope to align

By Steve Bulpett / Celtics Notebook | Wednesday, January 23, 2008 | www.bostonherald.com | Boston Celtics

Photo by Matt Stone
Kevin Garnett most certainly will have his All-Star ticket punched when the starters are announced tomorrow. And Paul Pierce [stats] expects that he and Ray Allen will learn they are accompanying him when the reserves are announced a week later.

“Well, I would think we do (deserve to go), being that what we’ve done and accomplished as a team and as players thus far in the season,” Pierce said yesterday. “I mean, if you look back when the Pistons had a similar record, they had four guys make it. But who knows? We have to wait and see.”

Doc Rivers, who will coach the Eastern Conference, doesn’t place any great meaning on the game beyond the fact that it recognizes what his stars have done.

“Clearly I want them all to be there, but it’s a game for show, not a game for competition for the most part,” he said. “All three deserve to be there. They should be. I’d be surprised if they’re not there.”

If and when they do get to New Orleans, Garnett, Pierce and Allen will hear familiar voices on the sideline. The Celtics [team stats] clinched the best record in the East 13 days before the Feb. 3 deadline, putting Rivers and his staff on the bench for the exhibition.

“It’s a nice honor,” Rivers said. “It really is. I accept that honor, and I got it because my players were fantastic and my coaches were fantastic. That’s how it works.

“I told the guys it’s great, but it’s not what I want. It’s not what any of us want. But it’s nice, don’t get me wrong. It’s just that we have bigger things we’re after.”

Posey hurting

James Posey missed practice because of his sore right index finger and is highly doubtful for tonight’s game against Toronto.

“It’s improving, but at the same time, anything can aggravate it,” Posey said. “It’s pretty much day-to-day.”

The injury first occurred in Sacramento on Dec. 26, “and I thought it would go away, but it never really settled down,” Posey said.

In saying Posey “probably will not” play this evening, Rivers also noted, “It’s nothing serious, but it is something that we just want to get healed. When you have hand injuries, it’s difficult to get healed because every time you play, somebody hits you on the hand. So we just made a decision to rest him as long as we can to just try to get him healthy.”

Enemy lines

Rivers wasn’t happy that Pierce went to the sideline to shake hands with some Giants players Monday in New York before shooting a pair of free throws.

“I just was congratulating them,” Pierce said. “Those are my peers - guys who worked hard to get to a point where we want to get to along with the Patriots [team stats]. I was just telling them congratulations making it to the top game. That’s all it was.”

As for his allegiance in the Super Bowl, Pierce said, “I want the Patriots to win. I’ve been supporting them over the last five or six years. But I hope to see a good game.” . . .

Looking back on Kendrick Perkins [stats]’ career-high 24 points against the Knicks, Rivers said, “It was offense from doing his job. He set picks and he rolled. He ran the floor. We didn’t call one play for him. . . . Perk is a scorer of opportunity.”

[FLCeltsFan]

www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2008/01/23/pierce_says_ref_overreacted?mode=PF

Pierce says ref overreacted
He sees ejection as unwarranted
By Marc J. Spears, Globe Staff | January 23, 2008

WALTHAM - Celtics forward Paul Pierce saw his ejection from Monday's game in New York as unwarranted and a lesser deal than what was made of it.

After continual trash-talking between Pierce and Knicks swingman Quentin Richardson, both players were ejected with their second technicals with 1:57 left in the third quarter. Pierce and Richardson had received their first technicals for trash-talking earlier in the quarter.

While both players were very heated at the time of the ejection and didn't speak to the media afterward, both downplayed the incident yesterday.

"I got a bad break with the calls," Pierce said after practice. "I didn't think I did anything to warrant a second technical. I guess jibber and jabber by 'Q' was overexaggerated and they decided to kick us both out."

Pierce had 10 points and 7 assists in the Celtics' 109-93 victory, while Richardson went scoreless.

Asked what Richardson's issue was, Pierce said, "I have no idea what's going on in their locker room or the type of issues other players are having with me. It's hard to really pinpoint."

Richardson declined to go into detail about the incident when questioned by reporters following Knicks practice yesterday. He said he and Pierce just had an "exchange of words," though he acknowledged that security had to keep them from getting near each other after they left the court.

"Everybody saw what happened when it was on the court, right?" Richardson said. "What happens between the lines happens between the lines. You saw what you saw. Everybody else did, too."

Celtics coach Doc Rivers expressed disappointment with several of his players for talking trash during the game, and noted that if it had been a playoff game, the loss of Pierce could have been huge.

Pierce acknowledged that because of their success, the Celtics are now a target and they can't afford to get caught up in the trash-talking.

"It's a tough line," Pierce said. "You don't want to come off as being intimidated. In my case, I felt like I got intentionally fouled three times in a row. Teams are going to try to do that to us. We are a team that's not going to back down from anybody.

"But at the same time, I've got to do a better job of keeping my composure. But in my eyes, I didn't feel like I was losing my composure. It was a judgment of the ref."


He's not starry-eyed
Rivers was low-key about making his first appearance as coach of an All-Star team, an honor he clinched with Monday's win.

"It's a great honor," said Rivers, who was an All-Star as a player with the Hawks in 1988. "I'll take it, obviously. It's nice, don't get me wrong, that due to my players and coaching staff I get an honor. That's how I look at it.

"It's nice, though. But for me, it's the middle of the season. But it's a great honor. I've been there before."

The Celtics believe Pierce, forward Kevin Garnett, and guard Ray Allen all deserve to be East All-Stars, too. Garnett is a near lock to be voted in as a starter by fans (final balloting results will be announced tomorrow), while Pierce and Allen hope to be named reserves by the East coaches.

"Clearly, I want them all to be there," Rivers said. "But it's a game of show, not a game of competition. All three deserve to be there. I'd be surprised if all three are not there. But we don't have a lot of say-so in that."

Said Pierce, "I would think we do [get in] because of what we accomplished as a team and as players thus far in the season. If you look back, the Pistons had a similar record [in 2006] and four guys made it. Who knows? You got to wait and see."


Posey on ice
Rivers said forward James Posey will miss his second straight game tonight against the Raptors with a sprained index finger on his right hand. Posey sat out of practice yesterday and was on the sideline with ice bags on his right hand and his knees. "It's improving, but at the same time anything can probably reaggravate it," Posey said. "It's a matter of calming everything down so it's pain-free." . . . Center Scot Pollard has not played the last six games. He has been nursing a sore right ankle and had a slight limp while running up the court in practice yesterday. "I'm in uniform," Pollard said. "I wish it was feeling better."


Closeout time
On the Raptors, whom the Celtics have beaten three times already, Pierce said, "Toronto can possibly be a team that we face in the playoffs. Every game is important. It's not necessarily a statement [game]. But we want to put a closure to the series. We've played well against them so far. We want to keep playing well against them." . . . Although Pierce slapped hands with four New York Giants players (Plaxico Burress, R.W. McQuarters, Steve Smith, and Aaron Ross) who were sitting courtside at Madison Square Garden during Monday's game, he is pulling for the Patriots in the Super Bowl. "I want the Patriots to win," he said. "I hope to see a good game." While in college at Kansas, Pierce played against McQuarters, who was on the football and basketball teams at Oklahoma State.

[FLCeltsFan]

www.metrowestdailynews.com/sports/x1295941608


Celtics: Rivers wants to take out trash talk

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By Scott Souza/Daily News staff
GateHouse News Service
Wed Jan 23, 2008, 02:42 AM EST

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WALTHAM -
While Celtics coach Doc Rivers has not had all that many reasons to get angry at his team this season, he certainly felt he had one Monday afternoon in New York.

In the end, his frustration after a 109-93 victory had less to do with a trio of technical fouls and 20-point lead that shrunk to single digits than it did with on-court behavior that brought back haunting memories of the last time a playoff run was in the picture.

The cast of characters was far different three years ago in Indiana, but the tendency to jaw with opponents and referees was painfully similar to what Rivers saw at Madison Square Garden.

With a quartet of Antoine Walker, Gary Payton, Ricky Davis and Paul Pierce, the 2004-05 edition brought trash talking and arguing to an art form, but it was a trait that proved a fatal flaw in an opening playoff series most feel the Celtics never should have lost.

Walker was suspended for one game when he bumped an official as he rushed to dispute a call in Game 3. Pierce was nearly run out of Boston following his Game 6 meltdown in which he was dramatically escorted from Indiana's court in the waning seconds of regulation after being ejected for shoving Indiana's Jamaal Tinsley in response to what he felt was a hard foul. He later mocked the incident when he showed up at the postgame press conference wearing a fake bandage on his supposedly bruised jaw.

While the Celtics won Game 4 without Walker, and won Game 6 in overtime sans Pierce, Rivers said he still feels that the squad's emotional outbursts were its downfall in dropping the series in seven games.

``We blew that series, in my opinion, due to that stuff,'' Rivers said following yesterday's workout. ``I thought that was a major factor in us not winning that series. I really did. We don't want that to ever happen again.''

Pierce and Kendrick Perkins - who combined for the three technicals on Monday - seemed to accept their collective need to be more in control going forward this year even if they both continued to dispute their respective whistles yesterday.

``I just caught a bad break with the calls. I didn't think I deserved a second technical,'' Pierce began yesterday, before allowing: ``We have got to understand that we are a target out there and teams are going to come at us differently than they have in the past.

``It has been like that for quite a while now,'' Pierce continued. ``Teams have been coming out, talking to us and trying to get us out of our game. It's something we have to be more aware of and not get caught up into it.''

Pierce did not speak to reporters following Monday's ejection, but didn't shy away from the incident yesterday.

``I think in my case yesterday I felt I got intentionally fouled like three times in a row,'' he said. ``But teams are going to try to do that to us. We are not a team that is going to back down from anybody, but at the same time we have to - or I have to - do a better job at keeping my composure.''

Perkins, who saw his career-high 24-point effort partially overshadowed by his league-leading eighth technical foul of the season - Pierce is tied with Golden State's Stephen Jackson for second with seven - also questioned the officiating while noting the lesson learned.

``It was a technical foul that I don't think I should have deserved,'' he said. ``It was (on) the recreation (to a foul call), but I didn't say nothing.

``We have to be really focused, keep our mind right and just worry about us,'' he then added. ``Every game we play right now is like the playoffs. Teams come out, give us their best effort, and make a lot of noise talking. We have to learn to control ourselves (in response).''

As two of only three players remaining from the last playoff squad, Pierce and Perkins are forever linked in the Game 6 theatrics. When Pierce was tossed, it was a seldom-used Perkins whom Pacers coach Rick Carlisle summoned from the end of the bench to shoot the ensuing free throws - both of which he missed.

As the pair prepares for a return to the postseason with a much better surrounding cast and dramatically higher expectations, Rivers hopes there are no repeats.

``We have a history of it,'' Rivers agreed. ``It's a concern, honestly, because we have a team full of guys who play with great passion, great energy, and great intensity. When you do that, you are always on the edge. So I want us to walk on that edge, but be on the right side of it.''
***
James Posey (sore right hand) will likely sit out tonight's game against the Raptors (CSN, 7:30 p.m.) and may not be back until after the weekend.

``It's nothing serious, but it is something that we just want to get healed,'' said Rivers. ``Hand injuries are very difficult to get healed because, every time you play, somebody hits you on the hand. So we just made the decision to just rest him as long as we can and give him the chance to get healthy.''

While Rivers said he was not all that concerned about not having Posey for New York's large frontcourt, not having him will be more of a factor tonight against the Raptors and Friday against the Timberwolves because those teams go small.

He said that small forwards Tony Allen and Brian Scalabrine will likely see the biggest increases in playing time in Posey's absence after power forwards Leon Powe and Glen Davis filled the void on Monday.

[FLCeltsFan]

aol.nba.com/celtics/news/blog/post-ups.html

Tuesday, January 22 - PracticeThe Celtics had an open practice on Tuesday afternoon at HealthPoint, working on offensive and defensive fundamentals in preparation for Wednesday night's game against the Toronto Raptors.

James Posey will probably not play tomorrow, as he's been dealing with a finger injury on his right hand that he sustained all the way back on the West Coast road trip.

"It's nothing serious, we just want to get it healed," Rivers said. "We just [want] to rest him as long as we can and try to give him a chance to try to get it healthy."

Pierce Unhappy with Ejection
Paul Pierce didn't talk with the media after yesterday's game when he was ejected for some verbal sparring with New York's Quentin Richardson, and at Tuesday's practice he still wasn't happy about being tossed from the game.

"We just got a bad break with the calls. I really didn't think I did anything to warrant a second technical, but I guess jibber-jabber by Q got over-exaggerated and [the ref] decided to kick us both out," Pierce said.

Kendrick Perkins said after the game that every time the Celtics play the Knicks that there seems to be an extra helping of trash-talking. And Pierce has noticed an uptick in the amount of trash opponents are talking as they look for new ways to take the NBA's best team out of its game.

"We've got to understand that we're a target out there and teams are going to come at us a different way than they have in the past," Pierce said.

Rivers said the team has to be ready for it because they know they're a target and it's going to keep happening, so he'd rather learn these lessons during the season rather than the playoffs. And he also acknowledged that the Celtics' opponents don't have much of a choice if they're already being blown out.

"What else are they gonna do if they're down 18 or 20? Especially if we're doing some of the talking..." Rivers said. "But it's good to be a target. We're learning. I like being A target. Teams are giving us great effort and getting up for us and I think that's good for us."

[FLCeltsFan]

sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-080123

Professor Legler Passes Out Midterm Grades
By Tim Legler
ESPN.com
(Archive)
Time to pass out the midseason grades for the Eastern Conference. Team are listed here in order of conference standing:

Boston Celtics (Grade: A) -- It was critical for this team to get off to a great start after bringing in two stars in their 30s. Their 33-6 record speaks volumes about the unselfishness of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen. The key to their championship aspirations ultimately will be determined by the consistency of their bench. Time will tell. Their grade would be an A+ but recent losses to Charlotte, and Washington (twice) hurt their midterm grade.

Detroit Pistons (Grade: A) -- The Pistons look eerily similar to the NBA title group from '04. This group, however, has a much stronger bench and is headed for a showdown with the Celtics in late May. They have believed all along that their legacy should be greater than one NBA title … and they are playing with a purpose.

Orlando Magic (Grade: B+) -- The Magic have been the only other true contender in the East. Dwight Howard has become the most dominant big man in the game and Hedo Turkoglu is having a career year. They need a point guard with size to truly compete for a championship, but their road record (16-9) says they will be a factor all season.

Washington Wizards (Grade: A) -- Eddie Jordan is Coach of the Year to this point without question. The Wiz have played all year without Gilbert Arenas and, yet, are 22-17 and fourth in the East. Caron Butler has been simply great and they have played hard and unselfishly all year. Big-time overachievement!

Cleveland Cavaliers (Grade: B) -- They started the season as if their Finals appearance of a year ago was a complete fluke, but winning 9 of 11 has reclaimed some respect. LeBron James has been the MVP and the rebounding of their front line gives them a chance every single night. They are a work in progress and will be tough once the playoffs begin as they draw on their past experience.

Toronto Raptors (Grade: B-) -- The best is yet to come for the Raptors. They have dealt with injuries to T.J. Ford and Chris Bosh and still find themselves 3 games over .500, but they haven't played with the same sense of urgency or passion as last season.

Atlanta Hawks (Grade: C) -- It's funny how some people think the Hawks have arrived. Yes, they can be great on given nights and have played their best basketball against the NBA's elite teams. But this team has far too much talent to be so inconsistent. I don't want to hear about their youth … they can compete NOW in the East, but they haven't figured out how to focus and mature to the point where they can be taken seriously.

Indiana Pacers (Grade: C) -- The uptempo style suits their personnel. Jim O'Brien has done a solid job of hiding their weaknesses and they can score with anybody. The problem is that they just don't have the physical toughness defensively to be more than average, thus the C grade.

New Jersey Nets (Grade: C-) -- The "Big 3" and a bunch of below-average role players doesn't get anyone excited anymore. No doubt that the loss of Nenad Krstic has hurt this team, but they haven't shown the spark I would expect. The fact that Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson both belong in the All-Star game and yet this team is four games under .500 says all you need to know.

Chicago Bulls (Grade: D-) -- The biggest disappointment in the NBA thus far. A young, playoff tested group that came out flat is inexcusable. Scott Skiles took the blame, but the Bulls' core group (Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng) has struggled collectively and Ben Wallace has been hampered physically, thus rendering him incapable of being the emotional leader they sorely need.

Milwaukee Bucks (Grade: C-) -- To be honest, the Bucks are only a game or two below where they should reasonably expect to be. They rely on their perimeter game most nights to carry them and they haven't shot the ball well enough to overcome their defensive issues. What you see is what you get.

Charlotte Bobcats (Grade: C+) -- I know 16-25 merits a lower grade, but the Bobcats play HARD. They are in every game and have one of the most athletic wing tandems (Jason Richardson and Gerald Wallace) in the game. If they could get more consistency from their bigs and their bench they could threaten for a playoff spot.

Philadelphia 76ers (Grade: C-) -- The talk around the league is that the Sixers have been a pleasant surprise. I'm not sold on that. It's true, based on their offensive talent, that they are a lottery team. My bigger problem is with their lack of defensive commitment. In the NBA a team must compensate for lack of firepower by working on every possession.

New York Knicks (Grade: F) -- I honestly don't know where to begin. The Knicks could have earned at least a D grade if they haven't been such a disaster off the court. It's one thing to play poorly or underachieve. It's an entirely different level of ineptitude when a team lacks passion, chemistry, unselfishness, and the concept of basic winning basketball fundamentals. Thank goodness for David Lee and Renaldo Balkman, the only two Knicks who bring the right mindset to the arena every night.

Miami Heat (Grade: F) -- It is almost inconceivable that a team less than two years removed from winning an NBA title can be in the midst of a 14-game losing steak -- WITH a superstar in his prime and playing almost every night. The Heat's young players aren't talented enough to provide the supporting cast Dwyane Wade needs. It is fairly apparent that the Heat mortgaged everything to get a title. They won it … now they have to rebuild.

[FLCeltsFan]

www.metrobostonnews.com/us/article/2008/01/23/02/4907-72/index.xml

Getting schooledPierce discusses the art of the pickup game
‘You can’t touch Magic’
High school kids don’t just walk onto these courts with professional players. They need an invite, and Paul Pierce’s came from longtime NBA veteran and first-year Kings coach Reggie Theus, who also graduated from Inglewood High.
Pierce remembers playing pick-up games with Harold Minor and a number of the Lakers, who sometimes practiced at Inglewood High, including Magic Johnson.
“You can’t touch Magic,” Pierce said. “You can’t even blow on him. Shoot, even when Magic was retired, he’d always win all the games. You can’t touch him.”

NBA. While Paul Pierce seems to be on his way to a sixth All-Star Game and could garner some consideration for league MVP this season, the Celtics’ captain found himself in a precarious situation last summer.

He almost got beaten in a pick-up game by a kid in high school.


Granted, this was no ordinary high schooler. It was Renardo Sidney, a 6-foot-10, 240-pound junior who is widely tabbed as the No. 1 power forward in the nation. Pierce and Sidney share a mutual friend, and they worked out together at the Spectrum Club in Redondo Beach, Calif., where Pierce got a run for his money.


“He scored a little bit on me, but he didn’t win,” Pierce said with a wide grin. “Damn, he was nice, man. I couldn’t believe he was in high school when I played against him. He’s going to be good. He should be a pro. He made me kind of raise my game up. You don’t want to let a high school guy beat you, so I went extra hard on him.”


Pierce remembers similar stories from his days as a teenager, when he rocked a high-top fade that was typical of kids in neighborhoods around Los Angeles.


After getting cut from the varsity squad, Pierce was a star at Inglewood (Calif.) High School during his junior and senior seasons. Referring to himself as “fearless,” he remembers working out with some NBA players at UCLA, and he tried dunking on Olden Polynice — about 13 years Pierce’s senior — which almost sparked a fight.


“It didn’t matter who I played against,” Pierce said. “I was a hungry young kid just trying to prove myself, trying to make a name for myself. I didn’t really get a lot of hype real young until later in my high school career, so every time I stepped on the court, I always had to try to prove myself.”

[FLCeltsFan]

ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2008/01/23/sports/sports02.txt

Celtics realize they’ve become targets


Paul Pierce - Jawing match (Associated Press)
By MIKE FINE
The Patriot Ledger

WALTHAM - That Rudyard Kipling guy was really onto something when he said, ‘‘If you can keep your wits about you while all others are losing theirs, and blaming you. ... The world will be yours and everything in it, what’s more, you’ll be a man, my son.’’

The Boston Celtics might be wise to take his advice.

As they’ve rolled to their remarkable 33-6 record, the Celtics are finding that they’ve become targets, and not just targets of opposing fast breaks and defenses.

They’re also hearing it verbally, and sometimes loudly, as opponents try to take them off their game. The situation might have come to a head in the third quarter of their victory over the New York Knicks Monday, when Paul Pierce was hit with two technicals and ejected after a jawing match with Quentin Richardson. Not long after, Kendrick Perkins was hit with a technical.

The Celtics rank fourth in the NBA in technical fouls by players, at 26 (behind Indiana, Miami and New Jersey). Coach Doc Rivers has four and assistants Armand Hill and Tom Thibodeau have one each. Perkins leads the league with eight T’s while Pierce is tied for second at seven. Kevin Garnett has been hit with five, which ranks him eighth.

‘‘It’s over with,’’ said Rivers, who has implored his players on numerous occasions to let him do the talking. He went so far as to lay down the law after the New York game, which was never in great jeopardy after Pierce was tossed with 1:57 left in the third. ‘‘We dealt with it. We have to improve in that. It’s happened a couple of times. We’re going to improve in that.’’

Rivers said his players are new to each other, which seems to indicate that as a reason for the yapping and complaining on the court, but that’s a little hard to buy. Class and dignity go a long way. To be sure, the Celtics generally comport themselves that way.

Their behavior isn’t even close to some of the hassles they’ve had in the past, when they were really, really poor. They were the kings of complainers earlier this decade, when Antoine Walker continually pleaded to the refs. In Game 6 of the 2005 playoffs with Indiana, Pierce was downright juvenile in his behavior, resulting in his ejection after a second straight technical foul with seconds remaining. It almost cost his team a shot at advancing to Game 7, and it did extend the game to overtime.

During the Celtics’ West Coast trip in February of that season, Pierce got in another little dust-up, this time with Suns coach Mike D’Antoni, who thought Pierce was mocking guard Quentin Richardson. Yeah, the same Quentin Richardson with whom Pierce was jawing Monday in New York.

‘‘It’s all about psychology, man,’’ Pierce said at the time. ‘‘It’s a psychological game, and that’s all I’m trying to play. It’s all in the fun of the game. I’m not here to taunt anybody. Shoot, if they do it why can’t I do it?’’

‘‘We’re the best team in the league, and we have the best record,’’ D’Antoni said after that game, ‘‘and we responded to a sub-par team, and that is our fault.’’

Now the Celtics are the best team in the league, and the Knicks are that sub-par team.

‘‘We’ve gotta understand we’re a target out there and teams are going to come at us a different way than they have in the past,’’ Pierce said.

‘‘It definitely is a tough line because you don’t want to come off as being intimidated, and I think in my case (Monday) I felt I got intentional fouled like three times in a row and teams are gonna try to do that to us. We’re not a team that’s gonna back down from anybody, but at the same time we’ve just gotta ... or I have to do a better job of keeping my composure, but in my eyes I felt like I didn’t lose my composure. It was just the judgment of the ref.

Like Pierce, Perkins said he was victimized by an unjust refs call, adding he’ll call the league because ‘‘I didn’t say anything.’’ That makes eight times that Perkins hasn’t said anything, apparently, although his loss isn’t necessarily the catastrophe in a close game as the loss of a Pierce. Yet, Perkins does understand that a little moderation isn’t a bad thing.

‘‘We’ve gotta be really focused, keep our mind right and just worry about us,’’ he said. ‘‘Teams are going to give us their best effort. Every game we’re playing right now is like the playoffs. Teams are coming out and giving us their best effort, so there’s a lot of noise, talking. We’ve just gotta learn how to control ourselves.’’

‘‘Teams like Detroit, the Spurs and Dallas have probably gone through this and have learned how to handle it,’’ Rivers said. ‘‘We’re still learning and we didn’t pass the test (Monday), clearly. And it wasn’t just Paul. I thought Paul was singled out. It was the team as a whole.’’