Williams caught off guard

Williams said he had not read or heard about the story. But he said in previous conversations with Walker that the former Celtics' captain was uncomfortable with Ainge because of Ainge's comments as a television analyst on TNT the last few years.

"He talked about some of the things maybe Danny Ainge said when he was a commentator," Williams said prior to last night's 114-111 Celtics' win over the Raptors at the FleetCenter. "Now that Danny took the job, those words were said, and, unfortunately, they have to work together. Once things like that are said on the air like that, there's pride involved. There's a lot of things involved. There's family, his family. You know how he is as far as people saying negative things about him. So he reacted the only way he knew how. "

Williams was surprised to hear that Walker called Ainge a snake.

"Did he? Well there you go," Williams said. "That's the NBA. Words have been said. Things are being shaked up in the holiday season. I just want to have a great Christmas. I don't want to get into these war of words."

Neither did Celtics coach Jim O'Brien, who would not comment on Walker's remarks.

Late decision

Raptors forward Michael Curry, the president of the NBA Players Association, said the league and players will likely announce over the All-Star break that the arrangement to allow veterans to report three days late to training camp has been shelved. The league agreed to that in February in return for extending the first round of the playoffs to seven games. But coaches and players alike complained and the association is prepared to act. "I just think there was a lot of negative feedback and it was another crutch for people to use about the state of our game," Curry said. "I think we'll find a better way to start training camp [on time] and find ways to give guys time off. That's what we're working on and, hopefully, we'll have a resolution by All-Star weekend." . . . The Celtics did not commit a turnover until Paul Pierce was called for, of all things, palming, with 9:55 left in the third quarter. "It's shocking," O'Brien said. "To go a whole half without a turnover is great. When you're on the offensive roll that we're on, it just seems so ridiculous to turn the ball over. Because if you do, you won't get a shot." The Celtics ended up with 11 turnovers in the game. Toronto had only 8 . . . Jalen Rose had averaged 20 points in his previous three games. But he was a brutal 1 for 13 from the field. However, he did have a season-high 14 assists. Rose's backcourt mate, Alvin Williams, was 1 of 6, making the starting guards 2 for 19 . . . The Boston offense was at its Mercedes best in the second quarter, as the team shot 16 of 21 from the field with 6 assists. Pierce had 13 in the period and Raef LaFrentz, in his last game of the season (knee surgery on Monday), had 7 . . . The Celtics had a 51-41 rebounding advantage with Pierce collecting 11. Tony Battie added eight, including a huge offensive rebound with the Celtics nursing a 96-89 led, which led to a Jiri Welsch trey . . . Shaun Brown, the Celtics' previous strength and conditioning coach, was back in town for his new gig as the Raptors' strength and conditioning guy.