Floor gives Allen the slip

With a slip on the TD Banknorth Garden floor last night, Celtics guard Ray Allen's left foot woes returned.

Allen went to the locker room with a bruised left heel after slipping near the free throw line in the first quarter of Boston's 110-92 loss to the Utah Jazz. While Allen did make the trip to Milwaukee for tonight's game, coach Doc Rivers said Allen must be "extremely healthy" to play against the Bucks.

"It's a tough blow, especially going out on the [road trip]," Rivers said. "I'm hoping he's healthy for that. But you know, I'm not going to change my rule. He's going to have to be extremely healthy for me to play him. And if he can't play, then someone else is just going to have to step up and play, and we've done that pretty well this year."

Allen was evaluated at halftime, and didn't return, finishing with 9 points in 12 minutes. He missed six games with a sore left ankle from Jan. 27-Feb. 8.

If Allen, who wasn't available for comment, can't play tonight, Tony Allen will likely start in his place.

"He's going on the trip, so we'll just see," Rivers said.

Price of success

Once the season ends, the Celtics will write a hefty check to the NBA. However, the ownership won't have a problem with it because they knew such would be the price for having a contending team.

The Celtics' payroll is approximately $75 million following the recent additions of veterans Sam Cassell and P.J. Brown. Since they are about $7 million over the luxury tax, they will be assessed a dollar-for-dollar tax after the season. But managing partner and governor Wyc Grousbeck said all of the owners were comfortable with the additions of several high-priced players since last season. And with All-Stars Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen leading the team to the NBA's best record, the Celtics are getting bang for their buck, too.

"In trading for Kevin Garnett and extending his contract, we added to what we did to Paul Pierce by extending his contract [in 2006]," Grousbeck said. "With Garnett's extension this summer and then going to the luxury tax to add [James ] Posey, [Eddie ] House, and [Scot ] Pollard, it made a statement that this is the time. We're not going to look back and say, 'If we only had one more player.' So, my partners and I talked about it and made a group commitment to support this team to the hilt."

Said general manager Danny Ainge: "Successful franchises have good ownerships and our ownership has let our players, coaches, and management succeed and put winning as a priority."

Call for help

Tim Hardaway, a former five-time All-Star, called Ainge in December to express his interest in joining the Celtics. No, it wasn't about backing up point guard Rajon Rondo. Rather, Hardaway called to see if the Celtics wanted to hire him to work with Rondo.

"I just called and offered my services and plan in helping him in coaching," said Hardaway. "[Ainge] said we would look into it and check with Doc and go from there.

"I never heard back from them, but I understood because they were checking out this and that and had a waiting game. It was good. I can't fault them. They waited long enough to get the right person for their team."

The right person was Cassell. "I know Sam very well," said Hardaway. "He's a great competitor and he would help your team win any way possible with defense, offense, assists or whatever. That's a great fit for him."

Hardaway said the only thing Rondo needs to improve is consistency with his jump shot.

"He's playing good and doing the things Doc asked him to do and more," Hardaway said.

Bigger fish

Rivers didn't think it was a big deal when his team won its 50th game Monday, and doesn't think it will be a big deal to win the Atlantic Division title. And while having the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs could be valuable as far as home-court advantage, Rivers isn't sweating that, either.

"It would be nice, but we're not going to celebrate," Rivers said. "We'd still have to play in the playoffs. But it would be something that we absolutely want. A lot of teams have had home court that we haven't seen [advance far]. It's something we want, I know that. But I just don't see a reason to celebrate anything."