01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, April 26, 2005

BY CAROLYN THORNTON
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON -- Indiana's big men had seen the game film on Al Jefferson. Pacers coach Rick Carlisle had pointed out the rookie's strengths, his "ability not only to score in the post, but to generate possessions on the offensive boards (and to) hit mid-range shots."

The Pacers knew all that. They just didn't have much success stopping it Saturday night when Jefferson had 8 points and 7 rebounds in 17 minutes.

Indiana did a better job of containing him last night, as he went just 1-for-3 from the field in the first half. (He did still grab 5 rebounds in 9 minutes, which at one point was more than all of Boston's starters had combined.)

That's all the Pacers would have to deal with Jefferson, though, as Celts coach Doc Rivers opted not to play him at all in the second half.

"I didn't think Al had a good rhythm tonight, so I went away from him," he said. "We're going to need Al more, I'll tell you that. I thought Al came in early trying to score instead of trying to let the game come to him. We told him that they were going to bring guys at him. But you know, he's 20 years old and he acted that for a little bit today. I don't mind that at all."

Stern backs O'Neal

In town for last night's game, NBA commissioner David Stern met with Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal to discuss O'Neal's accusations of racism regarding the league's desire to impose a minimum age limit of 20 years in the next collective bargaining agreement.

"In the last two or three years, the rookie of the year has been a high school player," O'Neal, drafted out of high school in 1996 by Portland, was quoted as saying. "There were seven high school players in the All-Star Game, so why are we even talking an age limit? As a black guy, you kind of think (racism is) the reason why it's coming up. You don't hear about it in baseball or hockey. To say you have to be 20, 21 to get in the league, it's unconstitutional."

"I told him I read his remarks and he should feel free to express himself in any way he feels comfortable," said Stern. "That I didn't believe he used the racism and I was aware of the subject generally, have been on both sides of it, and anything anyone wants to say on it is OK with me."

A box-office smash

Antoine Walker has made one person's job considerably easier since he returned to Boston. Rich Gotham, the Celtics executive vice president of sales and marketing, hasn't had to be nearly as creative when it comes to pushing tickets. Attendance increased by nearly 2,500 per game after Walker arrived, said Gotham, with 7 of Boston's 11 sellouts at the FleetCenter coming in the final month and a half of the season.

"It started because Antoine was generating a lot of interest," Gotham said. "Then it was winning 11 of (the next) 12."

Similarly, tickets for the first two games of this playoff series went quickly.

"Our Ticketmaster went down when individual tickets went on sale because we got blitzed so hard in the first 10 minutes," he said.

No quit in Pacers

Carlisle is hoping his team's win last night will put to rest some speculation that his Pacers are ready to pack it in.

"The question I've been getting the last two days is whether our team has anything in the tank, whether we're too worn out from all the things that happened during the year," said Carlisle, whose club has battled numerous injuries and continues to feel the fallout from its part in the notorious brawl at Detroit back in November. "There's no way this team is going to go quietly. No way. We've been through too much and everything that's happened to us has strengthened us, has strengthened our fans. And we're going to keep pushing forward."