But Houston doesn't and in the West they are staring at a five game gap between them and the eighth seeded Portland with just 13 games left on the docket. Boston had the Texas Two-step to begin their quick trip, and sent both the Mavs and the Rockets to defeats. Utah rode a wild run sandwiched around halftime to turn a double-digit second quarter deficit into an easy win over Boston on getaway night.

The results though point to a little something extra in Boston's tank. Paul Pierce logged serious minutes against both Dallas and Utah, showing the effects of his nagging knee injury may finally be fading. February was a lost month for Pierce, appearing in just seven contests and averaging under 12 points a game. At the heart of the bad play were lingering pains in his knee, which was drained shortly after the All-Star game in February. Bouncing back, Pierce has averaged 22 points over his last five games and copped a Conference Player of the Week award for his troubles. All of Boston's postseason hopes started with getting their captain going again.

The struggles continue for Kevin Garnett who enjoyed a less than satisfying road swing, playing his worst three game stretch since the All-Star Break. Averaging 11 points and under seven boards on the trip, the low point of which was the ten point effort in Utah where he managed just three boards and a block to go with five for nine shooting from the floor.

Tonight, Denver comes to Boston. The Nuggets sit atop the Northwest division and own a 47-24 record. They struggle on the road, though with just a 17-18 mark away from the mile high city and worse news, head coach George Karl is likely lost for the remainder of the regular season. The pro game is less about the coach than the college game, but Denver needs every edge they can get to stay ahead of the hard-charging Jazz, The Durantula-led Thunder and the Trailblazers in their ultra-competitive division.

A Celtics win will punch their ticket for the playoffs. With the weakness of the Atlantic Division, that destination was never truly in doubt. But getting there means they are a hot streak away from another title, in what might be the final run of this particular club. Garnett, Pierce and Allen average almost 13 years of NBA experience, and when they put Michael Finley and Rasheed Wallace out on the floor with them, that's a lineup with a combined 66 NBA seasons of experience. A lot of bumps and bruises and aches and pains in all those years. And yet once more they go unto the breech for the playoffs, needing a pinch of luck to go with all that experience.

Paddies Day and the Celtics were hosting the Knickerbockers. Any doubt on the outcome? Nope, just another night of inebriated Irishmen dancing into the night to celebrate a game where their club shot better than 50% from the floor and dispatched the Knicks early on. Boston did little to diminish the knocks against them. Their old, frail, tired and beating up Detroit and New York in order does nothing to change those facts. But winning always feels nice. Even when you'r supposed to do it.

Losing to Lebron and the Cavs on Sunday was expected. Cleveland remains the class of the East and the Celtics, well, aren't. Through the game they lent credence to Lebron's claim that Boston was bored with the regular season. Not a good thing, Celtic fans. The regular season only feels half as long as the playoffs, where we can expect the Celtics to be twice as bored!

The back to back wins against Detroit and New York may signal the club has righted itself for the stretch run. That's what Doc Rivers is hoping.

Last night's matchup in Boston against the Knicks featured Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett healthy and productive - or at the least a reasonable facsimile. Early foul trouble sent Pierce to the bench for much of the first quarter. He bounced back to make 11 of 17 shots on the night, including three of six from beyond the arc. Garnett enjoyed even more accuracy making nine of his eleven shots and going a perfect four for four from the line.

Their good shooting offset a horrible 1-9 from the floor for Michael Finley and Glen Davis' oh-fer-five from the floor. Rivers did a good job of keeping the grumpy old men fresh, limiting Pierce, Garnett and Ray Allen to 24 minutes each. That meant plenty of minutes for bench stalwarts like Rasheed Wallace, Marquis Daniels and Nate Robinson.

For Boston the biggest benefit is they have all the pieces in place to establish a rotation for the playoffs. They may be bored with the regular season. And their struggles against the best Eastern teams suggest they'll get started on summer vacation early. But last night's solid pushed summer vacation a little further away.

Not actual Celtics bench players

Waxing the Pacers does not a turnaround make.  Boston's big win Friday night set the stage for their showdown with the cruising Eastern Conference leading Cleveland Cavaliers, which is about to tip.  This quote from Lebron James should will provide a magnificent microscope to examine the Boston Celtics:

"To me, the Celtics look bored with the regular season," James said. "I'm not saying they've tanked the regular season, I'm just saying an experienced team like Boston has so much talent, they know how to win in the playoffs. Just looking at them, they look like they're ready for a new challenge."

It's not real trash talking, just an observation that the Celts are mailing in the regular season. Administered with an air of unbelief, they can't possibly play this poorly in the regular season.  James can say that because his Cavs, despite a number of injuries have already clinched another trip to the Playoffs.  But such compliments come on the backhand, and should be posted in the locker room as a reminder.  You're the Boston Celtics.

That other prominent New England dynasty, the Patriots, are noted for their exceptional use of bulletin board material to stoke them to greater heights on Sunday.  Tom "Don't call me Mr. Bundchen" Brady would remind the press that the Patriots are always looked at as underdogs and that when teams look past them it just inspires them to play better.  Should the Celtics play with fire and enthusiasm, taking it to the Cavs, then they prove they aren't bored with the regular season.

Winning in the regular season obviously ensures a post-season appearance.  More than that it establishes that you won't be pushed around.  The Celtics' struggles against Eastern Conference foes like the Hawks (0-4) and the Magic (1-3) and most recently against the Cavs (a 108-88 drubbing at home less than a month ago) have made them a desired first round opponent.  An over-the-hill ex-contender who made it to the playoffs to be whipped by a rising squad.  The Bucks felt no fear dropping Boston with a fourth quarter rally.

For the Cavs, this afternoon's game afford the opportunity to tune up their rotation in anticipation of the return of Shaquille O'Neal for the playoffs.  James and Jamison are finally healthy again.  They have little to prove.  The case is quite the opposite down the sideline on the visitors' bench.

Welcome to the inaugural Gahhden Pahhty column.  Watching the Celtics this year hasn't been pretty.  But someone has to do it.  Check in once or twice a week to read the latest on the NBA's storied collector of Championships.

George Santayana, senior point guard of the 1882 Boston Latin Philosophy Squad, musing on the philosophic equivalent of the pick and roll authoritatively intoned: "Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." A disgustingly familiar scenario plays out in the town that educated Santayanna.

The Boston Celtics are looking, desperately to put away the nightmare of Wednesday Night's dreadful loss to Memphis on the parquet floor.  It's in the past, they say.  But Boston's two game losing streak added to the pile of question marks surrounding the Celtics.  Are they done?  What's left in the tank?  Are they punting the regular season to be fresh for the postseason?  Did Ainge keep the old guys together too long?

That last point can't be understated.  Boston's general manager road off into the sunset with the original Old Three.  Of all the administrators he would be the one who could identify when he was going to the well more than he should.  But entering the 2009-10 season, Boston got even older, inking Rasheed Wallace to contribute off the bench.  Celtics fans thought back with fondness to the 85-86 team with its five top notch starters and super sixth man Bill Walton - who, if he ever stayed healthy, could have started on plenty of teams - demolishing the Eastern Conference on the way to the club's sixteenth title.

Glory Days indeed.  But the wheels feel off the following year with injuries nipping at the team's heels.  Sound familiar, Celtics fans?  Yes it does.  When noted Celtics homer and color commentator declares that the team's core superstars aren't getting it done, and your team is built around that threesome of ballers, the results are going to be less than stellar.  Worse, with Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett out of sorts, attempting to come back from injury, no obvious solution presents itself.

Rest them?  Sure, but what's to say that Marquis Daniels is going to handle the increased minutes even to the reduced standards of a wounded Pierce.  Michael Finley might have been the answer six years ago, but now, he's a veteran character guy who con add a little of the bench.  Same thing with Garnett. Glen Davis, Brain Scalabrine and Shelden Williams aren't the guys you want in the low-post, even against tonight's foe, the woeful Pacers.

The team took yesterday off after their awful play against Memphis.  The staff broke down film, but the players had time to play XBox reflect on a performance that prompted fans and commentators to say they mailed it in, they quit and even head coach Doc River had to admit, his team "gave in."

The lack of intensity on defense grew throughout Wednesday's game.  A missed shot ceased to call the team back to defend the ball and disrupt their opponent's transition game.  Heads get hung.  Play is listless.  They aren't battling for the ball off the glass, giving up too many second and third chance opportunities. The fans are restless and booing lustily.

With nineteen games to sort it all out, Boston enters a critical stretch, uncertain of how to get its two key weapons back to one-hundred percent.  Tonight is game one of their postseason push.  Game two is a nationally televised contest in Cleveland against the Cavs.  The rest of this month is filled with Western Conference powers like Dallas, Denver, Utah, Oklahoma City and San Antonio.  The Playoffs don't magically cure regular season malaise.  And neither do these sorts of brutal stretches.

But that's the lesson you're supposed to learn going to the well too often with an aging roster in the NBA.  That's the lesson of the 86-87 Celtics and the subsequent twenty seasons in the NBA wilderness.  Ainge must've forgotten.