Bumpy road

The Celtics embark on a brutal road trip starting Saturday, but Doc Rivers actually thinks it will be good for his team.

“It’ll be great because [the Western Conference teams] are in desperation mode," Rivers said after tonight's game. "I was reading something that Pop (Gregg Popovich) said the other day that all their teams, including his team, has had to go into playoff-play urgency earlier than normal. And so we’re going to catch that. We’re going to get thrown in the middle of the fire of that. And that’s going to be a great test for us. I’m really looking forward to it. I think it’s great for us, because it’s tough. Out on the road, teams are desperate for wins, and they’re going to play their best. And if we don’t play absolutely great basketball, we’re not going to win games. So I think it’ll be great for us.”

Paul Pierce knows his team needs to be ready for the road ahead.

"We've got to take care of business at home [Friday against Utah], knowing that we have a great West Coast swing coming up," he said. "We play theTexas triangle. You've got three of the best teams in the NBA, and then you finish with a hot New Orleans team who could be in a couple weeks by the time the season ends, the best team in the west. So we've got our work cut out for us. We've definitely got to take care of business at home before we go out on this tough stretch.”