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Celtics 'close' to a deal

Print | Comments () Posted by Frank Dell'Apa, Globe Staff March 22, 2012 12:55 PM

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Celtics coach Doc Rivers said the team is "close" to signing at least one player.

"It’s close," Rivers said before the team's shootaround at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee Thursday. "We clearly want to sign someone and we think we will. But until we do I’m just going to wait (on the announcement)."

The Celtics, who meet the Milwaukee Bucks Thursday night, could finalize a deal this afternoon. The top candidate appears to be Ryan Hollins, a 6-foot-11-inch center who was released by Cleveland.

The Celtics, who lost Jermaine O'Neal (wrist) and Chris Wilcox (heart) recently, took two days off following a 77-73 win in Atlanta Monday.

"I think the rest will be good," Rivers said. "I hope the two days off didn’t throw us out of rhythm. But after watching the Atlanta game, both teams were out of rhythm in that game. That was a big win for us. It was a nasty game, somebody was going to win it, and it was nasty because both teams were defending hard. We’ll take that all day."