Coach Doc Rivers is convinced his team will put together a playoff run in the second half of the season.

01:00 AM EST on Wednesday, January 25, 2006

BY SHALISE MANZA YOUNG
Journal Sports Writer

WALTHAM, Mass. -- To paraphrase Rick Pitino, Antoine Walker is not coming through that door.

Of course, given recent history, he might.

Last season, Celtics executive director of basketball operations Danny Ainge reacquired fan-favorite Walker in a trade-deadline deal after jettisoning him to Dallas before the 2003-04 season. Immediately, Walker made a difference in Boston and the team won its first Atlantic Division title in a dozen years.

But Walker was not re-signed during the offseason and won't be coming back. That's not to say some other new face isn't headed for Boston, which played its 41st game of the season on Monday night, a 91-78 victory over the lackluster New Orleans Hornets.

At the halfway point of this season, the Green are 17-24 -- and that pace projects to a final record of 34-48, which is not likely good enough to get Boston back into the playoffs. But as of yesterday, the Celts' record has them just one game back of 18-21 Washington in the win column for the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff spot.

The Wizards visit TD Banknorth Garden tonight at 7:30.

Last year, Boston won 10 of 11 games after reacquiring Walker and reuniting him with Paul Pierce, a run that saw the team go from 28-28 to 38-29, propelling the Celts into the postseason.

Entering tonight's game, Boston has won three of its last four, and head coach Doc Rivers and his players are optimistic about the rest of the season.

"I think this team has a run in them at some point. We have not made one at all this year and the fact that we're hanging around to (the point) where we're hanging around is a great sign of this team's inner soul," Rivers said yesterday after practice, adding that the East is jumbled in the middle this year.

"You have the top three teams (Detroit, Miami and New Jersey) and then everyone else falls in line. And you know, you can see some of the veteran teams are hanging in there, but it's early in the year."

Point guard Delonte West said the team has been pushing for the type of run that will push it higher in the standings.

"I think all season there's been a lot of signs and we need to put them together," West said.

Now is as good a time as any. Boston claimed home victories last week against Minnesota and the Nets, then Monday's against the Hornets. With the Wizards and struggling Sacramento (17-23) in town this week and then road games against the Timberwolves and in Milwaukee -- both teams are around .500 -- the schedule is favorable for the Celts.

The problem with that, however, is that Boston's biggest struggle has been playing away from home. The Celtics are 13-8 at the Garden, but have won just four games on the road -- and just once in its last six games.

Raef LaFrentz said this week that there is a fine line between winning and losing. Earlier this month, the Celts fought back furiously in the closing minutes of their game at Washington, only to lose on a highly questionable call by the referees. Their next game, against Dallas, was lost in the final second on a baseline jumper by Jerry Stackhouse. In all, Boston has lost 12 games decided by five points or less.

Rivers outlined the little things that will make a big difference for his team.

"I like the way we're playing. We've won some games, which you know, quite honestly, we should not have won, and we've lost some that we should have won. I think that's the way it goes," Rivers said. "I like our fight. A couple of things we have to do better in the second half to be a better team. We can't turn the ball over, we have to be a better rebounding team and we have to stop fouling. I think we're 28th or 29th in the league in fouls."

Boston is second-worst in the league in turnovers, at 17 per game, and 28th in fouls, committing 25.5 per game. The team is in the bottom third of the league in rebounds per game, but in the middle third in rebounding differential and the top third in blocks.

LaFrentz said the team is focusing only on it next game.

"I don't think anybody's mind is on the progress we've made," he said. "I think it's a push forward, one game at a time. I hate to give you that cliché, but that's where we're at.

"Winning in this league is not easy, and it's a battle every night. (Last year) you know, obviously, Antoine got traded here, and it was a jump start on a lot of different levels for this team. We went off and won at the right time and that solidified us in the playoffs. So we'll wait to see what happens and hopefully we can get some type of flow and some type of rhythm."

smanza@projo.com / (401) 277-7340