Ainge says he's taking long view

At last check, the house and the television are still standing and Ainge still has his friend.

"It was frustrating," Ainge said yesterday. "We didn't handle their [second-half] press. And our pattern so far has been that we don't handle adversity. We had a great first half. But when the momentum goes in the other direction, we have a tough time. It's our inability to stop the momentum and be mentally tough enough to fight through the adversity.

"I have not changed my feeling that we have a long way to go to become the team I envisioned we would be," he went on. "We're all working at it. Jim O'Brien is working at it. I am. The players are. I never envisioned it was going to be easy."

And it isn't going to get any easier. Maybe over the summer this brief Denver-Utah swing looked like a golden chance for two wins. Not anymore.

Denver, which hosts the Celtics tonight, has won six straight games, is 9-1 at home, and, incredibly, leads the Midwest Division. Utah is one of the teams right on the Nuggets' tail and is 10-1 at home.

The Celtics? Friday night's fiasco was the fourth straight loss. They are 7-12 -- an incredible record when you consider that the most games under .500 the Celtics were at any point in either of the last two seasons is two: 0-2 at the start of last season. This year's mark includes a 4-6 record at the FleetCenter.

Ainge reiterated that he wasn't in any Sportsticker mode in judging either his coach or players. He said he's taking the long-term approach, even as the short-term view looks glum.

"We're trying to become a better team. I don't think it's going to happen in a year," he said. "My long-term plan is that I hope by the beginning of next year we can say, `Hey, we can compete in the Eastern Conference against the best teams.' Even before we traded Antoine [Walker], I didn't think we were anywhere near New Jersey, Detroit, or Indiana. I don't know. Maybe because of our youth, it's two years from now."

Meanwhile, Ainge said he is worried about Raef LaFrentz, who is still playing only at about 70 percent because of persistent right-knee tendinitis. LaFrentz played only eight minutes Friday, mainly because O'Brien said the forward/center wasn't right for facing the small Phoenix lineup.

Ainge said something would be determined in the next couple of weeks as to whether to rest LaFrentz for an extensive time or have him undergo surgery. He was asked if he thought the Celtics had received damaged goods from Dallas.

"He was not healthy on the day of the trade and we knew that," Ainge said. "The question is the length of time he'd miss. Maybe there'd be a 'scope. Maybe there'd be a five-month [offseason] rehab.

"I don't know what exactly we're going to do," he said. "I'm concerned. I see him out there grimacing. You see a guy playing in pain and other things can happen. Those questions the next few weeks need to be resolved. He's doing everything we've asked him to do. We're playing this out. His skills are big for us as we move forward.

"Everybody feels a little pressure. I've got to make sure I don't make certain decisions because of the pressure. Don't give the coach pressure. Don't put pressure on the players. Give me the pressure. I don't care." . . .

The Celtics had hoped to leave for Denver at 10:30 a.m. yesterday. But that did not happen. Because of the storm, the team's charter stayed on the tarmac at Hanscom Field throughout the day and, at 5 p.m., everyone was told to go home because the crew's service time had expired. "Most guys just did their own thing," reported team public relations chief Bill Bonsiewicz of the seven hours on the ground. "A lot of movies. A lot of card playing. A lot of sleeping." Bonsiewicz also informed the NBA, which normally mandates that a team be in the city the night before a game if possible, of the situation. The Celtics were told to reconvene at Hanscom at 8 this morning and then wait for a departure window. They thought about chartering out after Friday night's game but could not secure an airplane in time . . . The Suns made it to New Jersey after Friday night's game without incident. Their only storm-related move yesterday was to hold their shootaround at the hotel instead of at the arena. With the game last night in the Meadowlands, and the poor weather to boot, one Suns official noted, "There should even be enough empty seats for Steph's [Stephon Marbury's] entourage."