Cavaliers forward LeBron James will probably play limited minutes tonight in Providence in the Cavs’ exhibition game with the Celtics.

AP / Paul Sancya

PROVIDENCE — The world-champion Boston Celtics are coming to Providence tonight.

They will make a preseason appearance at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center and play LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, who Boston eliminated from the Eastern Conference semifinals last season en route to winning their NBA-best 17th world title.

Fans can expect to see Boston’s Big Three — Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett — play tonight, but probably for not very long, and head coach Doc Rivers will once again walk the sidelines.

Rivers missed Boston’s preseason opener, a 98-92 loss to Philadelphia on Wednesday night, to attend the hearing of Adam Jones, a 6-foot-7, 17-year-old junior forward who was fighting to become eligible to play basketball for Winter Park (Fla.) High School alongside Rivers’ son Austin, a star sophomore.

Austin and Jones played AAU basketball together and Rivers and his wife, Kris, gained legal custody of Jones this summer after Jones’ home life deteriorated, and transferred him from Orlando Christian Prep to Winter Park.

The Florida High School Athletic Association’s Section 2 hardship-appeals committee voted, 6 to 0, to allow Jones to play for Winter Park.

“This was not a recruiting violation,” Rivers said. “This was a hardship case. We are trying to better someone’s life. It was really quick and painless.”

With the Jones hearing behind him, Rivers is now focused on the Celtics and what they can do to improve on their play.

“I’m not worried about [Cleveland]; I’m more worried about ourselves and working on ourselves,” Rivers said.

Rivers said that the Celtics are upset that they lost to Philadelphia after starting the game on fire with the Big Three on the floor. Boston’s second unit did not play as well and allowed the 76ers to get back into the game. They don’t plan on allowing that to happen tonight.

“One of the things that I told our guys is, ‘We played hard and all that (Wednesday) night. We didn’t play our (starters a lot) but we still expect to win the game, so let’s not get used to that,’” Rivers said.

Boston backup guard Sam Cassell, who missed Wednesday’s game to take care of family issues, was expected to be back in Boston yesterday; but he missed practice, so he might not play tonight.

In addition, starting center Kendrick Perkins, who is recovering from shoulder surgery and won’t practice with the rest of his teammates until Monday at the earliest, will not play tonight, but several of the younger players will be in action. Expect to see starting point guard Rajon Rondo and second-round draft pick Bill Walker, whose one-handed dunk over Theo Ratliff on Wednesday night was rebroadcast all day yesterday, on his birthday, on ESPN’s SportsCenter.

“I just play hard and play with a lot of energy,” said Walker, who had two crowd-pleasing dunks and eight points Wednesday night.

Rookie guard J.R. Giddens, who only played four minutes Wednesday night, could play more tonight to gain experience.

“He has so much to learn in such a quick time,” Rivers said. “When you think about it, we’ve got six days for training camp and then you play your first exhibition game. That’s really tough for young guys.”

That’s why rookie center Patrick O’Bryant (10 points, 8 rebounds) may start again for Perkins tonight instead of Leon Powe (12 points, 2 rebounds).

Sharpshooting guard Eddie House scored 10 points against the 76ers and is looking to build on that performance tonight, and defensive specialist Tony Allen (knee) says he is 100 percent healthy and looking to reclaim a strong position off the bench.

“I’m just trying to be that force and be that piece to the puzzle,” said Allen, who had 11 points Wednesday night.

“He’s been very good,” Rivers said of Tony Allen. “He’s been very good and explosive.”

The only player that Rivers has not been impressed with he said, is forward Glen Davis. Ray Allen, Pierce, and Garnett played close to 17 minutes Wednesday night.

James, who won an Olympic gold medal with Team USA over the summer, is considered to be one of the best basketball players in the world. Rivers said he didn’t think James would play much considering he played with Team USA. James played just over eight minutes in Cleveland’s preseason opening loss to Toronto on Tuesday.

Starting center Zydrunas Ilgauskas led Cleveland with 16 points, while former Celtic Wally Szczerbiak scored seven points, and former Celtic Delonte West (personal reasons) did not play.

roblee@projo.com