National Basketball Association

Aging Celtics need to win Game 6

Published May. 23, 2012 1:00 a.m. ET

Sam Gardner

After slogging through eight games in 15 nights, dating back to Game 3 of their first-round playoff series against Atlanta, the Boston Celtics finally got two nights off last weekend, and anyone who watched them dominate Monday against Philadelphia could see that they were all the better for it.

Well-rested for Game 5 — or as well-rested as the oldest team left in the playoffs possibly could be — a rejuvenated Boston core offered arguably its best effort of the series and rode it to a convincing 101-85 victory and a 3-2 series lead over the plucky, but overmatched Philadelphia 76ers.

“That’s no coincidence,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said afterward, noting that the extra day off did his aging, broken-down team and their tired legs some good.

Now, after yet another quick turnaround, Rivers and his players have a chance to eliminate the Sixers, and a win in Game 6 would be enormous for Boston. The team could earn as many as four invaluable nights off before the start of the next round, further underlining the importance of avoiding a decisive Game 7 Saturday.

“It would be nice to win two in a row,” Rivers said Monday, in a tone that was ever so snarky. “That would be terrific.”

But all sneering aside, a victory Wednesday night would allow the Celtics to build on some much-needed momentum in a postseason where they’ve struggled to maintain any. And that extra rest would also be invaluable for their declining health and, in turn, their viability as a legitimate championship contender.

If Boston does finish off Philly Wednesday, and the Heat eliminate the Pacers Thursday in Indianapolis, the teams would meet in Miami for Game 1 on Saturday, giving the Celtics two nights to recuperate before starting the next round. But should Boston win in six games and the Heat-Pacers series go seven, Eastern Conference Finals play wouldn’t start until Monday.

Certainly, there’s only so much the Celtics can do to make that Monday start a reality — they’ll be Pacers fans for at least one night, Thursday, to be sure — but they’re also well aware just how much it would behoove them to afford their banged-up guys an extra couple days on the mend before the next series starts.

“We know how tough the playoffs are,” veteran swingman Paul Pierce said. “There’s nothing easy about the playoffs. We know there’s a long journey to get to where we need to go. We understand how difficult it is.”

A left MCL sprain has hindered the 34-year-old Pierce, who has seen his numbers drop from 21.2 points on 42.9 percent shooting against Atlanta to 17 points on 38.6 percent shooting against Philadelphia. Pierce, of couse, maintains that everything is A-OK and that his knee brace is doing its job, but at times he’s looked a step or two slow against the younger, more physical Andre Iguodala, and a couple days off wouldn’t hurt.

Ray Allen could also certainly use the extra time, too. Bone spurs in the veteran sharpshooter’s ankle have sapped the 36-year-old of whatever speed and explosiveness he still had left. The 16-year veteran has already missed two playoff games with the injury, and has averaged just 9.9 points off the bench in the others — he made his only start Monday, in place of Avery Bradley, who is now out with a dislocated shoulder — while connecting on just 27.5 percent of 3s and a startlingly low 60 percent from the foul line.

Then there’s Kevin Garnett, the fiery leader in the Boston locker room, playing in his 12th career postseason. Garnett has been playing his best playoff basketball since the Celtics’ 2008 championship run, averaging 19.3 points on 52.1 percent shooting and grabbing 10.5 rebounds per game. But at 36 years old, KG’s body is undoubtedly deteriorating — though he’d never go so far as to admit it — and each extra game brings about more wear-and-tear on a pair of brittle knees that don’t need it.

“We don’t have the luxury to practice tomorrow; we couldn’t if we wanted to,” Rivers said after Game 5, alluding to his team’s age and injury problems. “It’s just what we’ve gone through. The good thing for this group, honestly (is that) we’ve done it all year. We’ve kind of been a makeshift group all year, and so it’s not a distraction. Our guys, they’re very professional about it.”

The Celtics also know that knocking off a young, fearless Philadelphia team will be easier said than done, and Boston isn’t packing its bags for Miami or Indiana just yet.

“I don’t think we’ve ever looked at it like, ‘Win this game and move on,’ because you have a tendency to look past this team,” Allen said of Game 6. “We have to … continue to push through and run through the finish line. They aren’t going to quit or give up, so we have to continue to do our job.”

If there was ever going to be a season for youth to prevail, it should have been this one — and in the end it still might, with Oklahoma City and Miami potentially on a crash course for a meeting in the NBA Finals — but the Boston Celtics have been playing well beyond their means all postseason long.

Still, the point remains: The Celtics are old and getting older, and no matter how far Boston has surpassed expectations, their creaky, aching bodies need all the R&R they can get — whether it comes in the form of two days off or four.

“Every minute you think, like, we’re leaking oil, physically,” Rivers said. “I just want us to play the right way every minute, and if we do that, I don’t know if we’ll win or not, but we’ll be good.”

Follow Sam Gardner on Twitter: @sam_gardner