Green will show his All-Star stuff

WALTHAM -- The NBA yesterday named Gerald Green one of the four competitors in the All-Star dunk contest, a decision Danny Ainge would call a no-brainer. Barring any players named as replacements for injured participants, Green will be the only Celtics representative at the Feb. 16-18 festivities.

Given the dunks Green pulls off in games and practices, he appears the early favorite in a field that includes defending champion Nate Robinson of the Knicks, the Magic's Dwight Howard, and the Bulls' Tyrus Thomas.

Green has bounced balls off walls and championship banners at the Celtics' practice facility for seemingly easy dunks, so there is no telling what he will do during the contest.

The second-year Celtic said he has a special dunk planned that he believes will impress the seen-it-all Las Vegas crowd, and though neither he nor his teammates would reveal any details, Tony Allen said that if Green nailed the "crazy" dunk he has planned, it will go down as "one of the top 10 in history." Green did divulge that Paul Pierce would be present at the contest and incorporated into one of his dunks.

"I've been thinking about [a big dunk], just in case I got invited to the dunk contest," said Green. "Hopefully, I can pull it off. You just go out there and do it. There isn't really a process. It takes a lot of thought, but you really don't have to practice it, especially if you know you can do it."

But not lost in the buzz about Green being named was the fact that he has struggled this season. As coach Doc Rivers noted, Green would be playing a much less prominent role if the Celtics were healthy.

"It's good for him, but it's the dunk contest," said Rivers. "I hope someday he's there [as an All-Star]. To me, that would be the goal. It will be fun for our guys to cheer for something. You'll at least see one Celtic uniform there.

"Let's be honest, if Paul and Wally [ Szczerbiak] and Tony were all healthy, Gerald would not be playing a whole bunch right now. He's taken advantage of this. He's inconsistent defensively. There's so many things he has to learn to do to be a good basketball player. To his credit, he works on it."

Said Green, "I'm pretty excited, but I wish our record was a lot better. I'm going to try to go out there and win it for my team, my friends, and my family."

Pierce spent the tail end of practice running on a treadmill as his teammates walked through a series of plays, but he participated in virtually the entire workout. Rivers said Pierce was "most likely out" for tomorrow's game against the Heat, though he quickly added he didn't know for sure. The likeliest comeback date is Friday against the Nets. "He looks OK on the floor," said Rivers. "He doesn't look tired, but he's only going short spurts. That's probably what he's going to do when he comes back anyway. So, I don't think conditioning will be a problem for him early on because he's not going to play the traditional 35 minutes. He's going to play in bursts." . . . Allen spent three hours working with the training staff as he continues rehab from ACL surgery. "I'm getting better day by day," he said. "I'm coming here every day, trying to make the best of it, keeping a positive spirit."

On the loss of his hometown Bears in the Super Bowl, Allen joined a chorus that blamed the lackluster play of Rex Grossman. "The quarterback we had, I don't want to say nervous, but the atmosphere kind of took him by storm," said Allen. "I think if we had a better quarterback, we probably would have won." . . . The judges for the dunk contest have more star power than the participants. The panel: Michael Jordan, Julius Erving, Dominique Wilkins, Kobe Bryant, and Vince Carter.