Allen, while playing for Seattle, had surgery by Dr. Richard Ferkel April 7, 2007, to remove bone spurs in both ankles. Before the Celtics began training camp last season, Allen said the Los Angeles doctor recommended he refrain from practice in training camp and sit out early back-to-back regular-season games to rehab his ankles. Allen, however, opted for the pain that, in turn, changed his trademark shooting stroke rather than miss the start of what would be the Celtics' run to their first NBA title in 22 years.

"When I got here, I didn't even talk about [my ankles]," Allen said after scoring 25 points and nailing five 3-pointers in a 119-111 win over Golden State Wednesday. "There is no way I'm not going to practice. There is no way I'm not going to play. [Ferkel] was even going as far as telling me not to play in back-to-backs. He said ... `Your body needs a chance to rest. It needs to get used to the pounding and then give it the rest ...'

"There was so much great stuff going on here that I wasn't going to make an excuse on what was going on with me. I just had to work. I knew I had to work doubly hard to be ready to play in games, to be in practice, to make this team better. Winning a championship was our goal. That's what I was focused on."

Ferkel, an ankle specialist, also operated on Allen's right ankle in 2003. Following his last surgery, Allen said he had a strong rehab regimen with a Sonics physical therapist that had him on the road to recovery. But following the trade to Boston on draft night last year, his rehab was sidetracked as he and his family adapted to the cross-country move and a new team.

Once he got settled, the ex-University of Connecticut star said he worked occasionally on his rehab with a trainer from UConn. Allen also began rehabbing with Celtics trainer Ed Lacerte. But because of missed time, Allen quickly realized his ankles were far from recovered when the Celtics began training camp and played two preseason games in Rome and London. And with the lack of strength, he spent a lot of time taking part in "body management," which included stretching his calves and keeping his ankles warm.

"My ankles needed to be warmed up because there was so much soreness," Allen said. "The pounding was brutal. Making moves, getting to the hole. Once I really got warm, it was great. But when I went to the sidelines, I had to work on getting them going and it works its way up through the rest of the body."I was playing body management all [season]. Offdays I was trying to figure it out. There were days that were worse than others. There were days that were better than others. Every day was a day I had to figure out what they felt like."

The ingredients of Allen's trademark jumper include getting high off the floor and gently flicking his right wrist while shooting. But with his ankles aching, he could only get up about "40 percent" as high as usual and had to use much more arm strength while shooting. The result was a lot of jumpers hitting the front rim.

"My lift was already short and lower," Allen said. "I adjusted to that shot with that lower lift. I know where my lift needs to be and how I'm shooting at the top of my lift. That's what I'm trying to get back to. All last [season] I was a lot shorter."

Allen missed consecutive games because of a sore right ankle last Dec. 14-16. The 6-foot-5-inch, 205-pounder also missed three games from March 15-18 after aggravating his ankles during a slip on the floor in a loss to Utah March 14 in which he played only 12 minutes.

While playing with fellow All-Stars Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce surely dropped his shots per game, Allen's average of 17.4 points in 35.9 minutes was his lowest since the 1998-99 season (17.1 with Milwaukee). He also averaged a career-playoff-low 15.6 points, but said great defense (not his ankle injury) was the reason for Cleveland's success defending him in the second round.Allen, however, quickly said he had no regrets about disobeying the doctor's orders.

"We were playing for deep June," Allen said. "It was a matter of me learning how to manage my body ... finding out how my body was going to respond over the course of the season because I didn't know. Back-to-back-to-backs, travel up and down out of airplanes, last year was all new to me. I didn't know how my body was going to respond.

"The greatest thing about it was I wasn't playing a lot of minutes. I wasn't doing a lot of running around. The pounding was a lot less based on how we were playing. We were playing in such a great fashion winning games that we were taking fourth quarters off. My minutes were down. Shots were down. I just kind of fell into that role."

Said Celtics coach Doc Rivers: "No one ever said a word about [Allen's ankles]. I just thought he was a third [scorer] on a new team.

"It's tough to fit in that way."

Although his ankles are a lot stronger now, Allen doesn't feel completely back to his old sharpshooting self just yet. Even so, he is second on the team in scoring, averaging 17.4 points while playing in all 16 contests. The 33-year-old also has made a team-best 31 3-pointers on .352 shooting.

"I feel fine, but I still want more," Allen said. "There is still more out of my body that I can get. Even if I make a shot and I just shot it with my hands, I get mad about it. I want my lift to be there because I don't want my release point changing.

"That's the thing about my shot, it has to be the same every time. When I get up to that point and I shoot and it doesn't feel like anything, that's when I know I'm right back."