Celtics focus on finishing strong

In 23 days, the Celtics' season will be finished.

For all those fans clinging to the mathematical possibility of making the playoffs, it is time to face reality. For executive director of basketball operations Danny Ainge, it soon will be time to collect the notes he has been keeping throughout the season and start the evaluation process in earnest.

After Boston plays Miami in its final game of the season April 19, Ainge will have watched some form of the Celtics' core of the future for 40 games -- 40 games since the trade with Minnesota -- though, interestingly, much of their most successful run came with Al Jefferson and Kendrick Perkins sidelined by injury.

Theoretically, 40 games should provide enough material to make a reasonably accurate evaluation and enough information to plan for the draft and free agency. But the real challenge for Ainge and others involved in the decision-making will be determining which version of the Celtics most accurately reflects their potential. Is it the team that started to play well on its second West Coast trip and carried that momentum through almost two weeks of March? Or is it the team that showed up earlier in the season and again Sunday afternoon against Chicago?

Unfortunately for them, the kind of fourth-quarter collapse the Celtics experienced against the Bulls was more common this season. That is what, in part, made Boston's 101-97 loss to Chicago so devastating.

When training camp started, coach Doc Rivers said he didn't want to use youth as an excuse for any failure. But as the season winds down, it is clear that the Celtics cannot ignore their growing pains. They talk constantly about being young and inexperienced because otherwise they are at a complete loss to explain why their play has been so inconsistent, and that is true even for a recently arrived player like Wally Szczerbiak.

''We've got to look at the tape to figure out how we didn't win [against Chicago]," said Szczerbiak. ''We had [the Bulls] down 10 going into the fourth quarter. That's playoff basketball. They're holding, grabbing, making you work to get into your offense. I don't know what happened.

''Every loss is frustrating. [Chicago] is the type of team we've got to learn from. We've got a young team and this is what playoff basketball is all about. They came out and played hard. We played hard.

''I thought we matched their intensity and then some for three quarters. Then, the fourth quarter, we couldn't make the plays. We let them take us out of our offense. We've got to continue to play 48 minutes and play a little bit better down the stretch and hopefully we can come away with a win."

For Boston, the learning curve has been slow and repetitive. More than wishful thinking about the playoffs, the Celtics need to focus on ending the season on a positive note. That seemed to be the message Rivers was sending after the Chicago loss when he said he is thinking more about winning the 11 remaining games than the whole playoff picture.

Asked what it would take for his players to do the same, Rivers said, ''Unless we've won a title or are a great team, we're playing to improve every night. Besides Paul Pierce and Wally, really there's nobody on our team that can relax. They have to learn and get better. So, I don't think [keeping them mentally focused] is going to be a challenge."

The youngest Celtics need to head into the summer eager for another crash course in NBA basketball. Otherwise, even with a training camp next October to further bond and instruct the core of the future, the Celtics may be doomed to another season of inconsistent play and youthful mistakes.