Walker's intervention irks Rivers

When Antoine Walker and Dirk Nowitzki were assessed technical fouls for jawing at each other with 8:53 remaining in the second last night, Celtics coach Doc Rivers had some choice words for his power forward.

Rivers was not pleased Walker involved himself in a tiff between Nowitzki and Kendrick Perkins. On the play before the double technical, Perkins spun around Nowitzki in the lane and threw down an impressive dunk. Perkins then accidentally bumped into Nowitzki on his way back upcourt. The two exchanged unpleasantries, and Walker entered the fray.

"I just told him to get out of there," said Rivers of Walker. "That was between Perk and Nowitzki, and I liked our chances in that one. I didn't think Perk needed help. That was the point I was making. We don't need to come and rescue Perk. Perk would love to fight, trust me. Teams are trying to get us engaged. They see that it unravels us. To me, that was a close game. Then, at that point, bam, it was gone. Game's over. We've got to just play. All this crap. I just don't like it. Listen, there are coaches who do. I don't think we need to do that to play basketball. Let's just beat the team and point at the scoreboard."

Rivers was revisiting a theme from the March 23 loss in New York when he thought the Celtics did not show any class by trash talking. For his part, Walker thought he was playing the part of a "100 percent" teammate, standing behind Perkins.

When asked if he was concerned about the Celtics losing focus in light of all their talking, Walker said, "Everybody's tough on the basketball court. There's boundaries. You can get kicked out. There's [technicals]. And people are going to pull you off. I don't ever get into that. I just feel like if you're on the court, you try to step between your teammate and make sure that nothing happens."

Support staff
No one needs to tell the Celtics how quickly Boston fans can turn on a team. Down 10 points early in the first quarter last night, they heard the boos from the sellout crowd at the FleetCenter.

But in his postgame comments, Rivers was quick to defend Walker as the power forward's struggles from the floor mirror the difficulties of the team. Walker finished with 18 points and nine rebounds, going 8 for 20 from the floor. He was 1 for 2 from 3-point range, much better than his 0 for 6 from the arc last Saturday against Detroit.

"The other night, I thought he forced some [shots]," said Rivers. "I thought he caught himself tonight. The one thing I will say about Antoine is he's playing hard. The shots aren't going in for him. Yeah, we do need to move the ball more. He does, but everyone does. It's not just Antoine. The reason we're losing is not Antoine. I guarantee you that.

Running out of time
Conspicuously absent from the game in Detroit was Al Jefferson. For the first time in his NBA career, the rookie recorded a "DNP-coach's decision." Defense, or lack thereof, kept Jefferson off the floor. Perkins again supplanted Jefferson in the rotation as the second big man off the bench after Mark Blount.

"It's not a big issue or anything," said Rivers before last night's game. "Al just has to play better defense. For our bigs, that's how he gets on the floor. I thought Kendrick had been working harder and deserved the minutes. It's not a issue or anything like that. It's just that I decided to play Kendrick. The bottom line is I believe the guy who earns the job plays."

In recent weeks, Jefferson has seen a decline in playing time, logging more than 10 minutes in three of the last eight games. And two of the three were blowouts (a win in New Orleans, a loss in New York). Jefferson finished with 4 points and 5 rebounds in 7 minutes last night, while Perkins added 2 points and 5 rebounds in 8 minutes. Both performances earned praise from Rivers.

"Al and Perk, those two guys were playing with more energy than anybody else," said Rivers.

Race heating up
The competition for the Sixth Man Award became more intriguing when the Mavericks activated candidate Jerry Stackhouse (strained right groin). Stackhouse (11 points) and Chicago rookie Ben Gordon, who scored a career-high 35 points last night against Charlotte, appear the toughest competition for Ricky Davis (18 points), who leads the top candidates in field goal percentage (46 percent), steals (1.1 per game) and scoring average (15.6 points per game).

"I definitely want it," said Davis. "I'll definitely play for it, but whoever it goes to it's well deserved. I just go out and play my game. It would mean a lot for me and my team. I just hope to keep us rolling in the right direction."