--It should be taken as a good sign that G Tony Allen (left thumb surgery) made the trip to Orlando and Atlanta. He's been out since early February and it was said he would not return until the start of the playoffs. But the Celtics are now thinking he could be back by the April 8 game against New Jersey.
"He's getting closer, so whenever guys get closer to returning we try to bring them on the trip to integrate them back into the team and watch our stuff," coach Doc Rivers said. "Like I said the other day -- and people were surprised -- he's the closest to returning of the three that are out. Leon (Powe) and Scal (Brian Scalabrine), they're going to be out for a while. "If we can play (Allen) that last week, that would be great."
--The Celtics finished the season even with Orlando at 2-2. The Magic won the last two games, but the Celts fought back from big deficits to bring both to the wire.
"Right now they're confident," said Paul Pierce. "They beat us on our home floor. They beat us on their floor. They've won two in a row."
But the Celtics are fairly confident, too.
"Oh, definitely," Pierce said. "Without a doubt."
Pierce knows that the race with the Magic for the No. 2 seed will take the Celtics away from their desired plan in the last couple of weeks of the regular season.
"Both teams are battling neck and neck, so there's not going to be any time for rest like last year once we clinched the East," he said. "We'll have to play it all the way through and see what happens."
QUOTE TO NOTE: "With their key guys out, they still have guys on the team who can get in there and play. Glen Davis was huge tonight, and we had nothing to stop him. They banged a little harder than we did, and they hustled a lot harder than we did." -- Atlanta coach Mike Woodson.
