Doc Rivers bids farewell to Kevin Garnett in Game 6 but will it be the last time they’re together? (AP)

It was the obvious question to ask Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce in the moments after their season came to an end with a Game 6 loss to the Knicks.

Will they be back for another season?

“I haven’t really thought about it, to be honest with you. I’m kind of digesting , obviously, the current, and Doc came to me, pulled Paul and I to the side and all three of us agreed to speak later — too emotional,” Garnett said. “Obviously, it was a big game, tough loss, especially at home. But more importantly in the future, it’s a different day for that conversation.”

Pierce is signed for next season but only $5 million of his $15 million for next season is guaranteed. He could be amnestied under the new NBA CBA if GM Danny Ainge wants to overhaul the roster.

“That’s a decision for the management,” Pierce said. “Who knows what the future [holds]? I’ve been here 15 years and I’ve seen a lot of changes each and every year. So I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of changes here and we’ll see what happens.”

Garnett made it very clear that his decision about next year will hinge greatly on whether Ainge brings back Pierce.

“One of the big reasons I came [to Celtics] was because of Paul,” said Garnett. “Obviously, you want to be in a situation where it’s better. I want to make sure that I’m able to always help a team. I want to be in positions to where I’m giving something. I demand a lot of myself, both physically and from a skill level. But I’d be lying to y’all if I said Paul didn’t play into that factor. Like I said, it’s too soon of a conversation for me right now.”

Pierce, who said he will play in the NBA next season, was asked if he wants to return to Boston for a 16th season.

“That’s up to Danny and them,” Pierce said. “I have no idea.”

Coach Doc Rivers is also not a sure thing to return. He signed a five-year, $35 million extension before the 2011-12 season. He has three years left on it, that is if he wants to return.

“I don’t think about any of that stuff,” Rivers said. “Danny knows me pretty well. I immerse myself; that’s the only way I can do it, probably to a fault. Pretty much unlivable during the year. So I don’t know. Danny knows he gives me at least a week to do just whatever I do — and I don’t know what I do, sit and watch cartoons or something — then we’ll talk about it. But Danny has already worked on [offseason plans]. He never shows me. I don’t want to hear it, I don’t want to see it, I don’t want to know anything. We’ll figure it all out, and we’ll see.”

Jason Terry. (AP)

Jason Terry knew it wouldn’t be easy beating the Knicks four straight games. And down 26 with under 10 minutes left in Game 6, he knew it would be nearly impossible.

But that didn’t keep Boston from putting a huge scare into the Knicks before New York advanced to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2000.

The Celtics went on a 20-0 run, cutting a 26-point lead down to six, and eventually down to four before succumbing to the Knicks, 88-80. Terry finished 14 points in 24 minutes off the bench as the Celtics’ season came to an end.

“Gotta love the heart of a champion,” Terry said. “We hung in there tonight to get down 20 in the fourth quarter, battled back…but you could see it. We just didn’t have enough gas in the tank.”

Some may have felt the season was over with 10 minutes left but not Terry. And once the Celtics gave them reason, the TD Garden crowd roared at levels that made it sound like the building was about to take off.

“We thought it we got some stops, got a couple baskets we’d be back in the game,” Terry said. “The crowd they never died down, they were still with us. That’s what the definition of a true Celtic is. Never say never, never say die. Im proud to wear this uniform. We fought through a lot of adversity this season, but we never made excuses. We always came to work, we played with what we had…sometimes you know other teams just better than you, and they were better than us today.”

Like Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, Terry said his future with the Celtics is not for him to decide, though, like Garnett, he is signed for two more seasons.

“That’s not for me to decide,” he said. “I want to make sure I’m right, make sure my body’s healthy through this summer and we’ll see what happens.”

Celtics guard Jason Terry (4) shoots as Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony (7) holds his arm in the second half of Game 5. (AP)

NEW YORK — The “Game 7″ theme repeated itself before, during and after Boston’s 92-86 win in Game 5 Wednesday night. As a result, Jason Terry and the Celtics have a Game 6 on Friday night at TD Garden.

Terry led a blazing 11-for-20 effort from 3-point range, drilling 5-of-7 from beyond the arc as the Celtics overcame an early 11-0 hole to beat the Knicks and become the 11th team in NBA history to force a Game 6 after being down 3-0.

“We know every game for us is a Game 7,” Terry said. “We played with tremendous resiliency. The last two games we were able to make shots and play solid defense.”

As for his inspired 17-point effort off the bench, Terry said he felt the same as he has all series.

“I am pumped every game whether I am making or missing [shots],” he said. “It is all about being resilient. ‘Do you want to pack up your things and go home or do you want to play another day?’ Every playoff series takes a life of their own. Nobody in here is going to quit.

“It shows you how resilient we are. We know we are starting to jell as a team. Injuries have plagued all season long, but in this series it is all about heart. I believe in this team, the coaching staff. We have a lot of basketball left in us.”

Terry’s fifth and final trey of the night came with 4:57 left in the fourth quarter and put Boston up 80-67 as the Knicks were desperately trying to get back in the game.

Jeff Green and the Celtics took it to the Knicks after a slow start. (AP)

NEW YORK — The Celtics are halfway home to history.

Jason Terry drilled 5-of-7 from 3-point range and finished with 17 points while Paul Pierce was 4-of-8 from long distance and added 16 as the Celtics overcame an early 11-point hole and stunned the Knicks, 92-86, Wednesday night in Game 5 at TD Garden. Game 6 is now set for Friday night at TD Garden, with the Celtics trailing, 3-2, in the best-of-seven series.

Jeff Green scored 18, Brandon Bass added 17 and Kevin Garnett hauled in 18 rebounds and hit a key jumper with under a minute left, as the Celtics became the 11th team in NBA history to force a Game 6 after falling into a 3-0 hole. Only three have ever forced a Game 7 and none have ever come all the way back and won the series.

Boston finished 11-for-20 from 3-point range while the Knicks were 5-for-20 from distance.

Kenyon Martin and several Knicks arrived at Madison Square Garden wearing all black, making good on a promise to dress for what they predicted was a Celtics funeral. J.R. Smith, who announced the Knicks would’ve won Game 4 and swept the series if he weren’t suspended, missed his first 11 shots and picked up a double-technical with Terry midway through the fourth quarter. The game ended with a heated exchange involving Jordan Crawford, Carmelo Anthony and Raymond Felton as the two teams walked off the court.

But early on, things couldn’t have started much worse for the Celtics. They missed their first five jumpers from the floor while the Knicks raced out to an 11-0 lead.

Bass was the only Celtics player holding things together. Bass hit his first three shots while the rest of the Celtics started 0-for-8.

Trailing 15-6, Bass’ layup started a 14-7 Celtics run to end the first quarter and Boston trailed by just two, 22-20, with Bass tallying nine points.

The Knicks were clearly frustrated and borderline shaken by Boston’s ability to fight back. Martin picked up his third foul with 9:10 left in the second quarter when he delivered a tomahawk chop to Garnett. The call was initially ruled ‘Flagrant 1′ but was rescinded after video review.

The Knicks appeared to right the ship somewhat after that, opening a 32-26 lead on a Felton layup with 7:26 left. But the Celtics again responded with a fury. Pierce hit a pair of threes that sparked a 19-7 run to end the second quarter, as Boston silenced a very nervous Madison Square Garden crowd and took a 45-39 halftime lead. Garnett was big on the glass in the first half, with nine rebounds and 10 points.
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Celtics veterans unanimously supported former teammate Jason Collins‘ decision to come out as the first openly gay player in major American sports in an autobiographical Sports Illustrated piece.

Collins told C’s coach Doc Rivers a few days ago and phoned Celtics captain Paul Pierce before the news broke on Monday morning. Rivers, Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Jeff Green and Jason Terry all expressed genuine happiness for Collins, and their words must reinforce the erstwhile Celtics center’s decision to come forward.

Here are the Celtics speaking about Collins in their own words:

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Doc Rivers asking his team to take another Game 7 approach Wednesday. (AP)

WALTHAM — It’s a theme that began last weekend after the Game 3 loss to the Knicks. Every game the rest of the series is like Game 7. It worked in Game 4 as the Celtics won, 97-90, in overtime but the Knicks still lead the series, 3-1.

“Like I told them, what’s the difference between being down 0-3 and being in a Game 7?” Doc Rivers asked rhetorically. “It’s no different. It’s an elimination game. The difference is your mindset. In a Game 7 you’re thinking, ‘Let’s win it to win it.’ When you’re down 0-3, you never know. You may have a couple guys making vacation plans, thinking you can’t do it. It’s all about the mindset. And that’s what I told our guys before the game the other night and that will be the message still. Each game you win, it is a Game 7. If you advance, you just advance to another game instead of to the next round. That’s got to be our mindset.”

Rivers knows veterans like Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry fully understand that message. The hope is that it’s filters to players like Avery Bradley and Jeff Green Wednesday night in New York.

“You know, Game 7s are all out,” Garnett said before Tuesday’s practice. “It’s just what they are. They’re your last opportunity to survive and your mentality can’t be anything different. We have no pressure at this point. It should be an all-out mentality and you should play with a free mind and an aggressive mind and take this thing one game at a time and see what happens. Other than that, we put [ourselves] in this position, and we can’t [complain] about too much.”

Did Sunday’s Game 4 OT win instill more confidence in the group as they hit the road?

“Don’t know,” Rivers answered. “I’m hoping that we had confidence to begin with, but I honestly don’t know. I think we are really looking forward to the next game.”

What was clear to Rivers and his coaching staff from watching film is that another 18 turnovers Wednesday in New York like they had on Sunday will end the season. Aside from turning the ball over, the Celtics need to repeat their offensive flow of the first half, when they shot 50 percent and built a 19-point halftime lead.

“Well, we have to repeat it,” Rivers said. “It’s clear when we play a certain way, and that’s in an attack mode, not settling offensively, moving the ball, getting in transition, we’re hard to stop. It’s also clear when we get into the half-court and slow the ball down we’re not that hard to stop and that’s obvious.”

Other nuggets from Tuesday practice from Doc Rivers:

Second chance points. Frustrating for KG? “That’s frustrating for him. And some of them were switches where we switch and Chandler is underneath with a guard. We got called for two face guard block outs, which is legal. And I think we have to explain that honestly to our official, because it doesn’t look legal and I agree with them in that, but it actually is a legal position. We’re telling our guards instead of backing up, turn around and face guard them and block them out that way. Your’e not going to get the ball, but they’re not going to either. So that’s something we’re trying to do. but their guards got a lot of rebounds too. Shumpert hurt us on the glass. Jason Kidd hurt us on the glass too. So we can’t give up the extra shots with the turnovers and the offensive rebounds and expect to win tomorrow on the road. We just can’t do that. So we have to definitely fix the turnovers first and then the rebounds second.

On admiring KG for hard work it takes to get ready? “No, people have no idea what he goes through, and you can’t unfortunately. But it really is watching him just in there now doing all the stuff that they’re doing, the stretching. He just plays because he loves it, and it’s will. A lot of guys would just not play anymore. The fact that he does and to the level that he does it, I mean he’s a rebounding machine for us right now, and we need it.” Read the rest of this entry »

Jason Terry ready to take his best shot at the Knicks in Game 5. (AP)

WALTHAM — For Jason Terry and the Celtics offense, the hope is that Sunday’s Game 4 is a sign that the fuse has been lit.

The veteran point guard was asked before Tuesday’s practice if his 18-point performance on Sunday in Game 4 – which included a season-saving 9-0 run at the end of overtime – is a sign that his offensive game is coming around at the right time.

“I’m just feeding off the fact that I don’t want to go home right now,” Terry said. “I feel like we have a lot of basketball left with this particular group. If we win, we get another opportunity to come back here and play another game.

“We just know that if we can score 90-plus points, we’re going to have an opportunity to win. We’ve doing a decent job defensively of holding them under their season average but offensively, we’ve struggled. We started to get a little bit of a breakthrough the last game. Hopefully, the floodgates will open and we’ll have one of those performances.”

Indeed, the Celtics scored 97 points in Sunday’s 97-90 Game 4 win, though they needed 53 minutes to reach that figure.

“It’s just staying persistent, staying in the moment and knowing every possession is critical,” Terry said. “You can’t turn the ball over. That’s been a struggle for us this series. If we don’t turn it over, we stay persistent and keep defending the way we are, we’re going to have a great chance shot to win the game.”

Is that Terry’s veteran message to other Celtics?

“This is what I’m saying,” Terry said. “This is my approach. If it feeds on to them, hopefully, it does. If it doesn’t, I still have to go out and play like that for myself to be right.”

Of course, Game 5 in New York will be a hostile environment. Some – like Kenyon Martin predicted on Monday – might call it a funeral for the Celtics season. It was Martin who suggested everyone at Madison Square Garden wear black for the occasion. Read the rest of this entry »