Despite another inconsistent effort, Boston posts a much-needed victory over undermanned Indiana.

01:00 AM EST on Thursday, December 15, 2005

BY SHALISE MANZA YOUNG
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON -- Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers may not have thought his team's 85-71 win over the Indiana Pacers last night was a thing of beauty, but don't tell that to Al Jefferson.

"If we win, it's pretty regardless," Jefferson said.

But Rivers and Jefferson have a point. Rivers said after the game that he wasn't happy with the way his team played despite a victory over a team that had the second-best record in the Eastern Conference and had won two straight. The Green committed 18 turnovers (eight in the second quarter) and suffered lapses on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.

With his team's record at 9-12 after the win, Jefferson's right too: whether winning by 14 points or one, Boston needs all the victories it can get.

"We do have to expect more out of our team than that," Rivers said. "I'm happy with the win. I'm honestly not happy with the way we played. We've got to expect to be a better basketball team. The only way we'll ever be able to string some (wins) together is we have to expect more."

Boston has yet to string together two wins this season.

Newly-shorn point guard Delonte West -- who was sporting a close-cropped fade instead of his curls -- was asked if it is deflating to hear Rivers criticize his team after a victory.

"Not at all because that's his job -- to coach. We haven't won two games in a row (because) we seem to get satisfied every time we get a win," said West, who had 8 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. "He wants to stay on us to get something rolling."

Boston will once again try to string together two wins tomorrow night when Milwaukee comes to town. Last night, however, was one to take advantage of the undermanned Pacers.

After a closely-contested first quarter, Boston held Indiana to just 10 second-quarter points on 3-of-18 shooting. Overall last night, the Pacers put up 80 shots but made just 26 of them, for a 32.5 field-goal percentage. The defensive effort by his players made Rivers happy.

Thanks to that strong second quarter, the Celts went into halftime with a 47-31 lead.

Off the break, Indiana came out and quickly cut Boston's lead to seven, 49-42, and while they again got within seven with 3:36 left in the game, it was as close as the visitors would get.

After the second of Fred Jones' back-to-back 3-pointers cut the Celts' lead to 76-69, Paul Pierce scored four straight points to end the run and effectively slam the door.

As is to be expected with a club as young as Boston, West said the team is searching for consistency.

"It was a tale of two sides; normally our offense is rolling and we get hurt on the defensive end. Tonight it was vice versa. We have to put it together -- we can't play one-sided," he said.

Indiana's point total represented the fewest points allowed by Boston since a March 28, 2004 win over Philadelphia in which the 76ers had just 65 points. It was also the lowest point total the Celts have had in a win this year. They came into the night averaging over 102 points scored in victories.

The Pacers' shooting problems started with their two strongest playing (Ron Artest is being suspended by the team and Jonathan Bender is injured) players -- Stephen Jackson was 5-for-20, while Jermaine O'Neal was just 5-for-19 for a season-low 14 points before fouling out with 1:12 to play. O'Neal did have a game-high 10 rebounds.

Indiana coach Rick Carlisle was not unhappy with the shot selection of Jackson and O'Neal after the loss, which dropped his team to 12-8.

"When we look at the film, I think we'll see that a lot of the shots were shots that we would like," Carlisle said. "And then there probably will be other times when we maybe should have made one more pass. But when you lose three out of the four quarters, you're going to lose the game, unfortunately. We just weren't good enough from start to finish tonight."

Pierce had a game-high 25 points, though he needed 21 shots to get there, and also had 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Mark Blount, back in the starting lineup as a forward with Raef LaFrentz on the bench because of shooting troubles, continued to show that perhaps his poor play of a couple of weeks ago was a hiccup -- his efficient 9-for-12 shooting led to a season-high 22 points.