BOSTON — There once was a time when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar would have received a police escort into TD Banknorth Garden . . . or its predecessor, the old Boston Garden.

Guess those days are over.

“There’s a strong possibility the ghost of Red Auerbach had something to do with this,” Abdul-Jabbar said with a smile after he was delayed entry into TD Banknorth Garden for about a half-hour yesterday.

Auerbach, the former Celtics president and coach, wasn’t above such gamesmanship in his day. But Red, who died in October 2006, couldn’t be blamed for this one.

“We tried to drive in the entrance where we were told to go, and were sent to the main entrance,” said Abdul-Jabbar. “Then, we were told to go to another place, where all the staff and players park. They finally let us in there.’

Abdul-Jabbar was a scheduled guest on a WEEI radio show several hours before the game, but the delay prevented him from appearing on The Big Show With The Big O until the end of the program.

“All’s well that ends well,” he concluded.

Abdul-Jabbar’s Celts history

Abdul-Jabbar played against the Celtics in the Finals four times — with the Milwaukee Bucks in 1974, and with the Lakers three times in four years starting in 1984. His teams lost the first two matchups and won the last two.

Abdul-Jabbar said another Celtics-Lakers matchup was good for basketball.

“Two great cities and two great organizations with a lot of history,” he said. “Sort of like [a] Yankees-Dodgers [World Series matchup].”

Lakers’ star coaches

The Lakers have a star-studded assistant coaching staff, led by Abdul-Jabbar. Kurt Rambis, former Celtic and Laker Brian Shaw and ex-Chicago Bull Craig Hodges are also helping Phil Jackson.

Almost Krzyzewski

Instead of Jackson going for his 10th NBA title, Mike Krzyzewski could have been seeking his first.

When Jackson decided not to return to the Lakers after losing in the 2004 NBA Finals, Krzyzewski emerged as the leading candidate to replace him. And he gave it some serious thought before opting to remain at Duke.

“It was close enough to where I interviewed and spent three to four days really mulling over a great situation that was offered to me,” Krzyzewski said by phone yesterday.

The job instead went to Rudy Tomjanovich, who lasted only half of a season before stepping down to deal with health problems. Jackson returned the next season, and will be trying to break his tie with Auerbach for the most coaching titles.

Lakers praised

Krzyzewski praised the Lakers for the way they treated him during the process and said he was happy for the success they’ve had this season after a few difficult years.

“I’m glad to see that they’ve done so well. They were able to get back a great coach who had left them,” Krzyzewski said, calling Jackson’s departure a “semiretirement.”

“He’s one of the best to ever coach and also to see the things that [general manager] Mitch Kupchak has done and their organization to create a roster that is championship caliber and mostly (glad) to see [Kobe Bryant] to be healthy and compete at the highest level.”

Krzyzewski was the personal choice of Bryant, who has said he would have gone to Duke had he chosen to go to college.

Krzyzewski finally got to coach Bryant last summer on the U.S. team in the FIBA Americas Tournament, and he’ll have the MVP on his team again this summer in the Olympics.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

kmcnamar@projo.com