Some words flying, too

The Celtics held a 73-72 lead as Glen Davis grabbed a defensive rebound, then lost possession to Chicago center Brad Miller. Davis was losing his balance and threw a pass directly to Miller, who attempted a layup and was fouled by Davis with 10:02 remaining. Miller reacted by appearing to forearm Davis in the head.

Officials called a flagrant foul and ejected Miller, then changed the call to a technical, allowing him to remain.

The Bulls tied it, 74-74, on Miller's foul shots after the Celtics' Eddie House converted the technical.

"I just tried to find a way to get rid of the ball," Davis said. "He ends up with the ball. I go up and try to make sure he doesn't get a continuation [call]. It's a nice foul. I didn't try to hurt him. I just tried to get the ball out of his hands. He came down and swung away and hit me in my face.

"It didn't matter what happened. It didn't determine the game. You just have to go out there and play. I don't know. He hit me in my face. You make your assumption. He swung and hit me in my face. I felt something. He swung. I felt it in my face."

Said Miller: "It was a hard foul and I shoved back. That's all it was. He came across the face. They've done that a lot this series to a lot of guys. I just pushed back a little bit.

"It gets physical and things get flying. There have been bodies flying all over this series. This is what the series is all about."

Chicago's John Salmons said: "They have been pushing us around a little bit. It was good to see Brad step up. I think everybody is going to feed off that."

Chicago coach Vinny Del Negro said: "There's no layups; it's the playoffs. You have to be smart, especially the way the rules are now. I don't think there was anything malicious there, on either part."

"They are trying to take up my space and force me to drive," Pierce said. "I thought they did a good job, forced me into a lot of turnovers, turnovers I shouldn't have. Those type of things cost you. Myself, I had six turnovers and for the game we had 19. Some things you have to be aware of, so go back and look at the tape, see what kind of things I can do differently, so I don't turn over the ball, personally.

"Very disappointed we lost, very disappointed in the way I played. But I'm not going to let it linger over to the next game. In the playoffs you've got to learn to forget quick, move on from it, just keep playing. You're going to have ups and downs. I'm going to have ups and downs."

Marc J. Spears of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Frank Dell'Apa can be reached at f_dellapa@globe.com.