Glen Davis, who had one of the best games of his career on Monday night in Game 2, drives to the basket past Chicago's Tyrus Thomas.

AP photo / Charles Krupa

BOSTON – Nobody believes in Glen Davis outside of the Celtics locker room.

At least that’s how the self-proclaimed Ticket Stub feels.

It doesn’t matter that he improved his game on both ends of the floor by leaps and bounds this season. It doesn’t matter that he has confidence in every aspect of his game, including the midrange jumper that he worked long and hard to develop all year.

It doesn’t matter that he averaged 16.6 points and 6.7 rebounds over Boston’s last nine games of the regular season, or that he has been starting for the Celtics since Kevin Garnett, who missed 23 of Boston’s last 27 games of the regular season, went down with his right knee sprain.

He feels like nobody outside of the Celtics family believes in him. Davis and the Celtics are out to prove everybody wrong this postseason.

“Nobody expects us to do anything this year … but don’t count us out,” Davis said. “I know everybody is going to be looking at me as far as KG is not there, it was Big Baby, but don’t count me out either. I probably haven’t proved myself in the league as far as a premier player, but I can play this game, and I thrive at situations like that.

“No I’m not KG. Not at all, but I’m Big Baby Glen Davis from LSU, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I’m not the Big Ticket. I’m the Ticket Stub. Don’t count the Ticket Stub out. You might need the ticket to get in the game, but you leave with the ticket stub, because you’ll never forget this game.”

Davis scored 18 points against the Bulls in Game 1, but needed 15 shots to do it. In addition, several of his shots came outside the lane, and he was not in the offensive flow, so Boston coach Doc Rivers will be looking for Davis to be more efficient the rest of the series.

“He can play better,” Boston coach Doc Rivers said of Davis’ Game 1 performance. “Eighteen points, that was great, but it wasn’t 18 points in the way we wanted. I thought we forced a lot of shots. Glen tried to make too many plays with the ball instead of making the next pass, getting the ball to Ray and to Paul. They needed to touch the ball more, and then they would make the decision of where the ball goes. Glen became a creator, and that’s not what we wanted.”

Ainge back on the floor

The Celtics received some good news Monday morning when their president of basketball operations, Danny Ainge, who is recovering from a minor heart attack, made an appearance at Boston’s shootaround.

“He said, ‘Hi,’ and then we told him to go home and get off his feet. But it was great to see him,” Rivers said.

Rivers added that he thinks Ainge is under orders by his doctor to not watch the Celtics play the Bulls, but Rivers doesn’t think Ainge will follow those orders.

“I guarantee you if he is at home, there is no one that is going to be able to turn his TV off,” Rivers said.

Rivers said it was “nice for all of the guys who know him to see him looking normal” at the shootaround.

Team expects Allen to get back on track

The Celtics believe Ray Allen’s struggles in Game 1 are a thing of the past, and so do the Bulls.

“He got looks he usually makes,” Chicago coach Vinny Del Negro said. “I thought our defense was [good] on him. I thought Ben [Gordon] did a good job, and Kirk [Hinrich] and all of the different guys on him. Ray is such a good player and such a great scorer and shooter, he just missed some open looks that he usually makes.”

Allen had one of his worst shooting performances of the season – 1 for 12, including 0 for 6 from 3-point land. He has done his best to avoid the media ever since, but his teammates still believe in him.

“Regardless of the way Ray played or the way he shot the ball, we’re going to continue to get Ray open – our job is to get him open,” Celtics captain Paul Pierce said. “He’s one of the deadliest shooters to ever play the game, so we’ve got to do a better job of getting him open.

“It’s the playoffs, you’ve got to understand, guys are not going to just leave Ray open. He’s going to be guarded tightly, probably more so than I’ll be. The players have to do a better job of getting him open.”

roblee@projo.com