Greene takes a back seat

The Celtics suspended rookie point guard Orien Greene yesterday for what will likely be one game, according to coach Doc Rivers and executive director of basketball operations Danny Ainge. The suspension stems from Greene's arrest early Monday morning in Waltham for a handful of driving violations, including failure to stop for police, operating to endanger, marked lane violation, and speeding. Although the criminal charges -- failure to stop and operating to endanger -- were dismissed upon payment of a $200 fine, the Celtics suspended Greene for conduct detrimental to the team. The one-game suspension will cost Greene about $4,500.

Greene traveled with the team Tuesday to New York for last night's game against the Knicks, but he was sent home yesterday afternoon upon announcement of the suspension. Ainge and owner Wyc Grousbeck conferred with Rivers about an appropriate punishment, but the coach made the final decision because he was the only one to talk with Greene. Rivers and Greene will talk more about the incident and the importance of professionalism today.

''I want these guys to be great players, but I also want them to learn how to be professional," said Rivers. ''I don't know if that comes under my job title or not, but I believe it does. So, when that stuff happens, you have to take an action that you don't really want to take. I was disappointed in him breaking the law, but I was more disappointed in the time of it and the unprofessional act of it. We have to have better conduct."

Before the season started, the Celtics placed a lot of emphasis on a code of conduct, which stressed respect for the team, the community, and the organization.

''I'm holding [Greene] accountable for it," said Rivers. ''Wyc and Danny were great. They said, 'You make the call.' And that's where I ended up. It's probably one game. I doubt if it goes any further than that. It just happened so quick that we didn't have time to think of number of games. So, I did it for one game and told Wyc, Danny, and Orien that we'll talk [today] when we have enough time. You're emotional when it happens and you try not to act on emotion.

''There's no case to be presented as far as I'm concerned. We just lost the game to Chicago and it's 3:30 in the morning and you're out driving around in a car at 90 miles per hour. To me, that doesn't look right. I know [Greene] understands that and I hope he learns from it. I hope all our players learn from it."

With Greene out, Tony Allen was the Celtics' lone backup point guard last night, far from an ideal situation. Rivers noted that Paul Pierce and Wally Szczerbiak could have certainly shouldered some of the ballhandling duties, but that Boston would have had problems if starting point guard Delonte West got in foul trouble. He didn't, and the Celtics rolled to an easy 123-98 win.

Speaking of Allen, the Celtics have not taken disciplinary action with regard to his legal problems in Chicago. Allen was charged with aggravated battery after a shooting that occurred at the White Palace Grill Aug. 28. Grousbeck said there was no inconsistency with regard to how each case was handled.

''The facts with Tony are in dispute," said Grousbeck. ''If there's a finding and Tony did something wrong, which he adamantly denies, he will be suspended. It's consistent with how we have handled Orien Greene."

Senior vice president of operations and information Daryl Morey is about to become the assistant general manager of the Houston Rockets. Morey has been with the Celtics since the current ownership group took over Dec. 31, 2002. He worked in a number of capacities within the organization with focuses on arena operations, risk management, statistical basketball analysis, ticket sales strategy, and technology infrastructure. ''He wore a lot of hats in the organization," said Ainge. ''He helped us on the basketball side even though he was on the business side. I think it's a good hire for Houston." . . . Szczerbiak said he has long forgotten about the screen he set on Stephon Marbury when the Knicks played the Timberwolves Jan. 16. Marbury claimed it was a dirty play, but subsequent review showed that not to be the case. Marbury sprained his left shoulder as a result of the contact. ''I just set a screen the last time we played against them and he ran into it and jammed his shoulder," said Szczerbiak. ''He thought I set a dirty pick, and it was just a legal screen that I set on the ball. He just ran right into it and caught his shoulder awkwardly."