Celtics looking to rebound from recent slide

They lost both. They gave up way too many second-chance points.

So, class, can you guess what the topic du jour was at practice yesterday?

"We worked on our aggressiveness on the glass," Celtics coach Jim O'Brien said after a longer-than-anticipated workout.

Good choice.

O'Brien will get a chance tonight to see if anything registered. The Celtics left for Philadelphia after the practice for tonight's game against the 76ers, the first meeting of the season between the teams. The Sixers (6-6) are banged up and aren't a very good rebounding team, either. The Celtics (5-6) are reasonably healthy and have been absolutely pounded on the glass in the last two games.

The Celtics go into tonight's game ranked 17th overall in rebounding and 12th in defensive rebounding, the main area where things broke down against the Knicks and Hornets. The Sixers are much worse -- 27th overall (in a 29-team league) -- and 24th in defensive rebounding. (They also have the third-smallest team in the NBA.)

Thus, it would appear that if the Celtics are going to break out of their rebounding funk, tonight, at the Wachovia Center, might just be the time and place. Then again, who knows what Sixers team will take the floor? Allen Iverson, Glenn Robinson, and Derrick Coleman all missed Wednesday's game in Toronto -- and Philly still managed to win. Iverson is listed as questionable with a right knee bruise while Coleman (left knee) and Robinson (left ankle) were listed as doubtful. Robinson, however, did practice yesterday.

In addition, center Samuel Dalembert, who has filled in for Coleman, was injured in the Toronto game (left hamstring strain) and is listed as questionable.

But rebounding will still be a priority regardless of who plays for the Sixers. The Celtics' inability to grab defensive rebounds has meant a halt to their running game and a stagnant half-court game.

"We have spent an exorbitant amount of time working on pushing the tempo and getting into a passing game, quickly," O'Brien said. "But when you're not rebounding the basketball, you're not pushing the ball, and you're not getting into the passing game, quickly. So, to a large extent, if you're getting hurt on the glass the way we've been getting hurt on the glass, [then] what we've been concentrating on hasn't had a chance to show itself."

The coach absolved, sort of, the big guys, who were manhandled by Jamaal Magloire and P.J. Brown on Wednesday. Instead, he said, the perimeter players were not doing their job in getting to loose ball rebounds, most of which ended up in opposition hands.

As O'Brien put it, "A number of times, our bigs hit people and the ball hit the floor. Their team got the basketball. So, the question is, where are your perimeter people? They're not in position."

And it's not because they're leaking, in anticipation of an outlet pass to trigger the fast break that never comes.

"What's the use of running if you don't have the basketball? We do not have the [inside] strength for anybody to spectate when the ball is up for grabs, or there's a loose ball. It needs a commitment of all five of our players and we are not getting a concerted effort by everybody on the floor. [And] we have been just pounded on the glass." . . .

Despite the dire injury reports out of Philadelphia -- the Sixers have dressed nine players in three of the last four games -- O'Brien said he expected all the injured 76ers to play. Robinson has appeared in only four games this season (he missed three because of a league-imposed suspension) while Coleman and Kenny Thomas each has missed four games. When Iverson sat out Wednesday night, it marked his first DNP since the 2001-02 season. Iverson leads the league in scoring, steals, and minutes per game and has at least one steal in his last 35 games . . . Tony Battie (sore right knee) again sat out practice but will be available tonight. Ask if he was worried that this scenario looked a lot like last year, when Battie hobbled through the season, O'Brien said, "I am concerned. The swelling he had last year is the swelling he has this year." . . . The Celtics are the only team in the league that has yet to play a game in which either team has scored 100 points. This is believed to be a team record, for the last time it happened, a team scored 100 points in the 10th game of the 1954-55 season. We kid you not . . . Look for Paul Pierce today on "Wheel of Fortune" as part of the show's NBA week to raise money for charity. The show was taped in September in New York. Pierce represents The Colonel Daniel Marr Boys and Girls Club and appears with the Rockets' Steve Francis and former Knicks star Walt Frazier . . . Asked what was going good for his team, O'Brien unhesitatingly noted that the Celtics are third in field goal defense and among the top 10 in forced turnovers.