West quickly makes it back

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Delonte West pronounced himself 100 percent and ready to play last night against the Warriors following the Celtics' shootaround yesterday. He said it was "a miracle" he felt no pain or stiffness in his lower back. But when pressed for details about his quick recovery from a hard fall against Denver Tuesday that bruised his tailbone, West acknowledged he was rushing his return.

"My body is actually telling me, 'No, don't go,' " West said before last night's 110-100 loss. "But my heart is saying, 'Yes.' So, I've got to go with my heart."

After that statement, West said he fibbed about feeling 100 percent.

"I lied, but I'm going to convince myself I'm 100 percent," he said. "I'm going to leave it at that."

West took a hot bath, received massage treatment, and stretched to loosen up his back. For his part, coach Doc Rivers had no concerns about playing West, believing he made it through shootaround just fine. Rivers did not plan to be extra cautious with West or limit his minutes for the remainder of the trip, unless the oft-injured guard appeared in pain. West finished with 18 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists in 32 minutes.

In other injury news, Wally Szczerbiak tweaked his just healed sprained right ankle at the end of the shootaround. He immediately applied ice in hopes of preventing a setback. He was good to go by game time, though he came off the bench again. He could return to the starting lineup before the end of the trip. But when Paul Pierce (stress reaction, left foot) returns, Szczerbiak likely will return to his sixth man role.

"I don't want to start him yet," said Rivers. "I just want to give him another game of somewhat limited minutes. When Paul comes back, we're going to go back to him off the bench. I kind of liked [Szczerbiak] coming off the bench."

Kendrick Perkins hopes to see his playing time increase as the trip continues. While he understands Rivers has his best interests in mind, Perkins, who is battling plantar fasciitis in his left foot, thinks the coach has been a little too conservative with his minutes. Perkins played 11 minutes last night and posted 1 point and two rebounds.

When the Warriors earned a 96-95 victory Dec. 20 in Boston and snapped the Celtics' five-game winning streak, the end of the game was particularly memorable because Pierce failed to get off a final shot. Instead, the buzzer sounded with the captain holding the ball surrounded by defenders. The next day, Rivers speculated that the stress reaction prevented Pierce from going to the basket or passing.

So, with Pierce out until at least Thursday and Szczerbiak still rusty from a 10-day layoff, who would take the final shot if Boston found itself in a close game down the stretch? The odds seem to favor Al Jefferson, who has been something of a go-to guy with Pierce sidelined, though he shot 4 for 16 against the Clippers Wednesday night. Szczerbiak would be the obvious candidate, but he was far from top form in his first game back. If Gerald Green and Tony Allen play with focus and consistency, they could enter the mix. Rivers would not specify who might take a final shot, just that the Celtics would run the same play they did at the end of the first matchup with the Warriors.

"If we can get to that same situation, we'd run the same thing," said Rivers. "That was a perfect situation for us . . . We know what we want to run. We work on all that. We know exactly where we would go with this group at the end of the game. We know whose hands the ball [should] be in. We know who we want to space the floor. The difference with and without Paul is there's a chance we would have a defensive unit on the floor. If we did, we would use a timeout."

Once again sounding defensive about his decision not to call a timeout before running the play in the Dec. 20 game, Rivers added: "Why don't you call a timeout when you're down 1 with one time left? Do you know? You don't because you come down you get your best quick shot. If you make the shot, you come down and defend. If you miss the shot, you have the chance to get the rebound first, then foul. If they make the free throws, you still have your last timeout where you can advance the ball."

But none of the hypothetical situations matter unless the Celtics can keep a road game close. Entering last night, they have been unable to do that.

The first firing of an NBA coach this season hit close to home for Rivers. The Memphis Grizzlies fired Mike Fratello Thursday and designated director of player personnel Tony Barone Sr. as interim coach. Memphis is 6-24, the worst record in the NBA. "Mike is a terrific coach," said Rivers, who played under Fratello for seven years in Atlanta. "I know that more than just about anybody. I don't know what else he was supposed to do. [Pau ] Gasol [is out], the injuries they have, I don't know how he could have won games. I don't understand why they would fire him over their record. I just think sometimes you have to be realistic. He could have drawn up the best play in the world, but if Gasol and those guys weren't on the floor it wasn't going to work." . . . Monte Ellis (left shoulder contusion) and Troy Murphy (left Achilles' tendinitis) did not play last night. Murphy has played some of his best games against the Celtics . . . Hoping he will be selected for the All-Star dunk contest in Las Vegas, Green got in some early practice yesterday, bouncing a ball off a wall behind the basket and then dunking it. Prior to performing the move, Green warned, "Don't try this at home." For the record, Leon Powe was able to imitate the Green dunk.