Allen's injury really hurts

TONY ALLEN Overcame a lot

What does it say that a season-ending injury to a player who (a) was benched for one game in November and (b) only got playing time because others ahead of him were hurt has cast such a shadow on the Celtics? Let's face it, even before Tony Allen got hurt, this was a flawed team, even with a full cast.

But Allen's devastating injury resonated because of all he had overcome to get where he was. He worked his butt off. He never complained when Gerald Green was elevated into his natural spot. And he seized the opportunity when it arose and embraced it, playing the best basketball of his career.

That's why it hurts. The Celtics weren't going anywhere anyway, and a month ago, if Allen had been hurt or traded, the general reaction would have been: That means more time for Gerald! But in what sure looks to be another Secaucus-bound season, the fans who pay the big bucks want to see hope or promise.

Allen gave them a big dose of that. With the depleted team they had, he was almost reason alone to watch. You could already see him staying in the starting five even when the other injured players returned. He was one of the few guys on the team with any level of toughness. No, he wasn't the smartest player, but he was beginning to realize just what he could and could not do with his ultra-athletic body when his left knee caved in like a house of cards.

"It's tough," hoops boss Danny Ainge said Friday from Barcelona. "For sure, it's the toughest one we've had. It's longer. But it's also because he was playing so well and he was starting to play with his normal swagger. That was encouraging to see."

There are some obvious lessons going forward, probably the simplest being: When the whistle blows, stop what you're doing. No one is going to blame Allen's injury on an act of showmanship. Or, no one should. No, it didn't have to happen. But what he does is done around the league countless times (remember Ricky Davis, for instance). It should make the next guy stop and think. But it's silly to blame the injury on that. It could have happened anywhere.

There also is the lesson of perseverance and the willingness to keep working, hoping that your moment is going to come. We probably would still have no idea what would have happened to Allen had Pierce and Wally Szczerbiak not been injured, just as we had no idea about Ryan Gomes last year until injuries gave him the opportunity -- which he took, just like Allen this year.

Allen never got off the bench in the Celtics' 92-89 home loss to Orlando Nov. 13. He played a grand total of 26 minutes over the next three games -- and a lot of fans chafed even at that because they felt those were minutes that should have gone to Green.

A final lesson is what happens to the rest of the contract-extension-eligible kids if, as it appears, this is going to be a very long season. Allen, Delonte West, Al Jefferson, Sebastian Telfair, and Green are eligible to sign extensions over the summer, much the way that Kendrick Perkins did last year. Losing does a lot of things, and one of those is creating an atmosphere for players to pad their stats to make them look better. The only thing worse than putting up big numbers on a bad team is putting up no numbers on a bad team.

Pat Riley has a phrase for this kind of thing: peripheral distractions. (Actually, Riley has a phrase for just about everything.) This is when the agent/posse starts whispering in the kid's ear that he's not playing enough, not getting enough touches, not getting enough love, whatever. You could easily see that happening here with so many kids.

"I think that's a fear all the time," Ainge said. "We live in a world with so much money that it's hard for players to accept roles. Every player wants to establish himself, get respect. Sometimes I feel there are guys who don't get a chance and then have a tendency to try and do too much when they do get the chance. They want to prove they can play.

"I think you saw that kind of thing with Tony earlier in the season. If you don't get minutes, it's tough."

Ainge spoke to Allen about the situation. Coach Doc Rivers said he speaks to the guys constantly about it.

"If you're playing well, guys will pat you on the back," Rivers said. "If you're not playing well, then the peripheral guys will go to the guys who aren't playing and say, 'Hey, listen, why aren't you playing? You should be playing. You could help them win.' It's part of our league. I would rather have that talk, even though it's still negative, than the money talk. The money talk gets you in trouble.

"These guys are young. They want to make a living. I understand that. But they have to understand that the best way to do that is by playing with the team, playing team ball. That's how you'll get on the floor. You talk to the good teams and they'll say it's a big problem with them, because they're winning, their guys are getting numbers, and all of a sudden their guys are hearing that they're not being compensated enough.

"But it will always be a concern. I think our guys understand that. I hope they do."

He's an experienced rookie

What do you suppose the reaction would be overseas if Toronto's Jorge Garbajosa won the NBA Rookie of the Year award? That would be the guy who turned 29 last month and has played the last seven seasons for some European powerhouses, not to mention the gold medalists from the World Championships.

"I feel like a rookie because it's my first year, because I have to learn lots of things about the game and outside of the game," said Garbajosa, whose nickname is Garbo, which is ironic because he is anything but Garboesque. "I didn't know too much about the league or the players and I am learning every day.

"But I also am not a rookie because I played a lot of international games. The good part is I have more experience than most rookies. The bad part is that I don't have too much time to adjust to the league because if I want to have success, I have to do it as soon as possible."

Garbajosa already has earned one honor: Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for November, when he averaged 10.7 points and 6.5 rebounds a game. (When some Toronto writers asked him about the award, Garbajosa quipped, "Must be some kind of league for me to win.")

Garbajosa has started 27 of the 34 games he has appeared in and is one of three Euro-schooled newcomers who have helped Toronto, the others being Anthony Parker and Andrea Bargnani.

Parker did some NBA time back in the late 1990s, but he made his name overseas. Bargnani, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2006 draft, is starting to play like it now, even though he logged 118 minutes 23 seconds in the NBA before registering his first assist.

But Garbajosa is a rookie by NBA standards, of which he is reminded constantly by Toronto coach Sam Mitchell.

"Is there a difference between Europe and NBA? Yes, 100 percent," Mitchell said. "You can play in all the leagues around the world and nothing is going to prepare you for this.

"College basketball doesn't prepare you for the NBA. European basketball doesn't prepare you for the NBA. You don't see the athleticism, size, and ability over there. Where are your Tracy McGradys in Europe? You see any? You don't, because there are none."

All of a sudden, Nets are getting a lot from Moore

One of the feel-good stories emerging in New Jersey in the wake of Nenad Krstic's season-ending injury is the play of Mikki Moore. Yup, that's the same guy who had a cup of coffee -- more like a sip, really -- with the Celtics in January 2003 when he came aboard via a 10-day contract.

In 12 minutes over three games, Moore had 0 points, 1 rebound, and 6 fouls as a Celtic. He also has toiled for the Sonics, Clippers, Jazz, Hawks, and Pistons, not to mention the Roanoke Dazzle of the NBDL from 2002-04 as well as a year in Greece and two years in the old Continental Basketball Association. You have to believe this guy has some stories.

Now, he's starting for the Nets in his second go-round with New Jersey; he was there for 16 days in the 2003-04 season. Is this guy a testament to perseverance or what? He's 32 and universally regarded as a journeyman, despite his height (7 feet) and shot-blocking capabilities.

The Nets no more envisioned him as a starter than they did moving to Long Island. He moved into the starting lineup Dec. 26 and since then has averaged 10.1 points and 7.1 rebounds a game (not counting last night's game in Minnesota). Included in that span was an 18/10 game against the Cavs, a 20/8 game against the Timberwolves, and a 13/12 game last Thursday against the Bulls.

"He's a perfect example of a guy who is making the most of his opportunity," lauded Celtics GM Chris Wallace, who remembered signing Moore because of injuries/illnesses to Tony Battie, Vin Baker, and the immortal Ruben Wolkowyski. "There are a number of Mikki Moores out there who never get a shot."

Etc.

Has there ever been a more accomplished player on the open market, available at a reasonable price, than Chris Webber? No, he's not what he used to be, but if he gets on the right team, he can still be a force. He has to rank among the best passing power forwards ever, joining the likes of Derrick Coleman and Karl Malone among recent players. Webber can make a decision as early as tomorrow as to where he'll end up. More than a few teams would like him, and Doc Rivers has said he thinks Webber would be ideal on a great passing team like the Lakers or Suns. But heading into the weekend, most of the chatter had him headed back to his native Detroit, which would improve the already strong chances of the Pistons.

The Milwaukee Bucks used an injury exception from Bobby Simmons's season-ending foot ailment to procure shooting guard Earl Boykins from the Nuggets. (After the Allen Iverson deal, Denver was desperate to move someone and take back a lot less in salary, which it did, to avoid paying the dreaded luxury tax.) Why didn't the Celtics do the same thing with Theo Ratliff? They didn't have the opportunity. According to a Celtics official, the team would have had to know before Dec. 1 that Ratliff was going to miss the season and then would have had to specify a date at which point it knew for sure. Then, if the league approved, the Celtics would have had 45 days to use the injured-player exception, which, in Ratliff's case, would have been the mid-level exception, around $5 million. But because Ratliff was still thinking about playing Dec. 1, the Celtics are now powerless. To get an injured-player exception for Ratliff now, they would have to convince the league that Ratliff is going to miss this year and all of next year. Ratliff is in the process of finding a surgeon for his back operation.

Two years ago, the Phoenix Suns won 31 of their first 35 games, but then a six-game losing streak (which happened to coincide with a Steve Nash injury) denied Mike D'Antoni and his staff the privilege of coaching the Western Conference All-Stars. The honor instead went to San Antonio's Gregg Popovich. This time around, it looks as if D'Antoni will finally get to do the job. Avery Johnson's Mavericks have a slight edge over the Suns, with the Jazz and Spurs a few games astern. But Johnson can't coach the conference because the NBA doesn't allow repeat coaches. So it may be D'Antoni's time, and he deserves it. The teams with the best records as of Feb. 4 will send their coaches to Las Vegas. Cleveland's Mike Brown, Orlando's Brian Hill, and Washington's Eddie Jordan are in contention to coach the Eastern Conference team, as Detroit's Flip Saunders is similarly ineligible because he did it last year.

Think Mark Blount likes the change from the composite ball back to the old leather ball? The former Celtics center averaged 21.4 points and 7.4 rebounds in 40.4 minutes over the first five games of January, shooting 58 percent from the field and almost 80 percent from the line. In the first two months of the season, Blount averaged 11.8 points and 6 rebounds in 29.7 minutes while shooting 54 percent from the field and 73 percent from the line.

From the LA Is A Great Big Freeway Dept.: Traffic in Greater Los Angeles is so bad that Kobe Bryant said he was thinking of getting a helicopter to take him from his Newport Coast home to Staples Center for home games. Either that or an inflatable man so he can use the HOV lane.

Memo to the Chicago Bulls: Forget about those 18-point leads against the Nets. Twice in the span of six days, the Nets trailed the Bulls by 18 (including 18-0 in one of them) but rallied to win both games. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only once before in the last 10 seasons has an NBA team beaten another twice in a season after trailing by 18 or more points. The 2003-04 Lakers had two games with the Orlando Magic and won both after trailing by 18 or more in each one.

Peter May's e-mail address is p_may@globe.com; material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.