01:00 AM EST on Thursday, December 22, 2005

BY SHALISE MANZA YOUNG
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON -- While Delonte West was back on the floor last night, teammate Tony Allen continues to struggle to come back from knee surgery.

West, who missed Monday's game with Golden State because he still was suffering from dizziness, the aftereffects of a mild concussion suffered last Saturday in Chicago, started and played nearly 34 minutes last night.

Although he had declared himself ready to go before the game with the Warriors, only to be a last-minute scratch due to lingering dizziness and sleepiness, yesterday West said he was 100 percent.

"I feel great," West said. "No dizziness at all. I had a full day's practice (Tuesday) and I felt good all day yesterday and felt even better today, so I would say I'm 100 percent."

So while the Green got their starting point guard back, the return of Allen -- which head coach Doc Rivers was anticipating would happen last night -- has again returned to mystery status.

Allen underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair torn cartilage in his right knee on Sept. 13, but what was expected to be a 6-to-8-week rehab time has now stretched to 14 weeks, and Rivers saying out loud that the team may just shut him down at some point rather than have the second-year guard continue to suffer mentally.

Allen was activated for Monday's game, the first this season, but Rivers did not play him. That day, the team held him out of morning shootaround, thinking that if it did he'd be ready to go that night. But Allen apparently did have a strenuous workout before the game with the Warriors and then participated in the full practice on Tuesday.

He was held out of shootaround again yesterday morning, and Rivers was surprised to be told about 80 minutes before game time that the 6-foot-4 shooting guard wouldn't be available.

"This morning, he felt pretty good," Rivers said. "I didn't even think about (the possibility) that he wasn't going to be activated. We haven't talked about this, honestly, but at some point it has to come to an end, just to get his mind right, and it's not good for us, either."

Allen said he felt "all right" yesterday when he woke up, "but I was still stiff and it was swollen."

Asked whether there will be a point where he sits out for a week or so just to give the knee more time, Allen said he'll rest tomorrow and Saturday, when the team will get time off for Christmas. Boston has a 4 p.m. flight on Christmas Day in advance of its game in Seattle on Monday.

Despite saying he feels mentally strong, Allen also said, "I'm not really sure what's going on right now. I'm just taking every day (and) trying to get better."

Double dribbles

Paul Pierce said he didn't know what he wants for Christmas, but he said the best Christmas gift he's ever given came in his second year in the league, when he bought his mother a house for the holiday. The best gift Pierce ever got? A BMX bike when he was in third grade. . . . Rivers said he thinks Utah coach Jerry Sloan is one of the best coaches in NBA history, but added that Sloan doesn't get the same respect that contemporaries such as Phil Jackson, Larry Brown and Pat Riley do because he hasn't won a league championship. Sloan passed former Boston coach Bill Fitch for fifth place on the all-time victories list earlier this season (945), and won his 950th game earlier this month. This is his 18th season with the Jazz.