Switching gears, Celtics stall a bit

From almost the opening minute of Boston's 83-79 loss to Milwaukee at the Bradley Center yesterday afternoon, Szczerbiak could be heard asking coach Doc Rivers questions. He huddled with point guards Delonte West and Orien Greene as the youngsters tried to explain plays. Rivers and the rest of the Celtics desperately wanted to involve Szczerbiak, as he played a team-high 41 minutes and took 15 shots, second only to Paul Pierce (18). But they may have forced some of the action on offense. There were miscues like the one where Raef LaFrentz attempted to pass to Szcerbiak with a chance to tie the game late in the fourth. Szczerbiak cut toward the low post. LaFrentz threw the ball toward the 3-point arc and it sailed out of bounds.

''My [Celtics] playbook consists of point, v, fist, invert, fist down, hammer," said Szczerbiak (a team-high 20 points). ''I'm just going to have to get better at when to attack, when not to attack, what my teammates like to do. It's totally different from what I've been playing in, but it's how I've always longed to play."

The education and integration of Szczerbiak helped explain why the Celtics shot 40 percent from the floor, even though they entered second in the league in field goal percentage (47.2 percent). It also helped explain why, despite a strong defensive effort (Milwaukee also shot 40 percent), Boston lost. With every possession counting down the stretch, it was not the best time to be figuring out plays and developing chemistry. But the Celtics were confident the experience would benefit them soon.

''Down the stretch, they made tough shots, but I'm really happy with our effort and with the way we played defense consistently throughout," said Pierce (18 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists). ''I told the guys. 'If we play like that for the rest of these games, we'll definitely get in the playoffs.' As time goes along, chemistry is going to come on the offensive side."