Ailing Pierce can't get leg up on competition

He ended up with 15 points (on 6-of-18 shooting) along with 11 assists and 9 rebounds in the Celtics' 116-95 loss to Minnesota. But all anyone wanted to know about was his reaction to the deal with the Cavaliers, which sent Eric Williams, Kedrick Brown, and Tony Battie to Cleveland for Ricky Davis, Chris Mihm, and Michael Stewart.

Pierce had one thing right: Last night's Celtics' looked nothing like the team of the last week.

"I don't know where our heads were," he said.

Pierce injured the calf in the late moments of Saturday night's victory in Cleveland, when he got kneed in the area taking a charge on LeBron James. He was helped to the sideline, but came back to play. However, the leg stiffened up on the flight home and he was still wobbly at yesterday morning's shootaround. It wasn't a total loss for Pierce yesterday. He was honored by the NBA as the Eastern Conference Player of the Week. He averaged 31 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 4 assists as the Celtics went 4-0.

Smooth operation

Center-forward Raef LaFrentz underwent successful right knee surgery yesterday at New England Baptist Hospital. "It went great," said basketball boss Danny Ainge. "It was very successful." Drs. Brian McKeon and Glen Ross performed the operation and the Celtics said LaFrentz, who likely is out for the season, should be able to start rehabilitating in a few days . . . With a nine-man roster, coach Jim O'Brien gave five minutes to rookie Kendrick Perkins, who, prior to last night, had played one minute all season. Perkins wasn't bashful out there. He had 7 points (on 2-of-4 shooting) along with 2 rebounds. Alas, one of his misses was a block by new Minnesota player Oliver Miller. "I think I did all right," Perkins said . . . The Timberwolves shot a scalding 62.8 percent and started out making 20 of their first 27 shots . . . Miller, signed to replace the injured Michael Olowokandi, played the final minute and, in addition to his block, had 2 rebounds and an assist. He still is enormous . . . Wolves rookie Ndudi Ebi, another high school-to-NBA guy like Perkins, played the final 2 minutes and had 4 points . . . The Wolves have played all season without two of their key players -- Wally Szczerbiak (right foot) and Troy Hudson (right ankle) . . . The Celtics never led. Minny's biggest lead was 23 points . . . Wolves forward Gary Trent was nailed with a technical and a flagrant foul 23 seconds apart in the fourth quarter . . . A fan raised a sign that read "A-Rod Deal Done" in the fourth quarter and people went crazy.