Another loss Monday night would give Boston a sweep and end Orlando’s hopes for a second consecutive berth in the NBA finals.

“I’m somebody who says I’m never shocked,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said after practice Sunday, “but I was shocked (Saturday) night that we didn’t handle the situation better and play with more intensity and determination.”

Down 7-0 in the first two minutes. Trailing by 16 points in the first quarter. Never closer than 14 after that. And behind by 32 before Boston coach Doc Rivers began clearing his bench in the fourth quarter.

When the 94-71 rout was complete, the Magic could hardly believe their predicament. They had the second-best regular season record in the East, then swept Charlotte and Atlanta in the first two rounds to make it to the conference finals.

But now this?

“I expected us to be up 3-0,” Jason Williams(notes) said, “but down 0-3 is a big surprise.”

And an obstacle that’s never been overcome in the history of the NBA.

The Celtics are focusing simply on one game. A win Monday night would send them to the NBA finals with a chance for their second championship in three years and their 18th overall.

“This team is not complacent,” Paul Pierce(notes) said. “We’re too close to our goals. You’ve got a team that’s won the championship so we understand what it takes. We understand the mental toughness that you’ve got to have at this point in the season. So I don’t see any slippage from us and, hopefully, we can close this thing out on Monday.”

Boston has won the first three games in 10 other series; it won four of those in four games and the other six in five. This year, teams took 3-0 leads in five series that have been completed and swept four of them. In the other, Boston beat Miami in five games.

Rivers is among coaches who have been ahead in such series who would prefer that his players ignore those numbers.

“Every time now a series goes 2-0 or 2-1 or 3-1, you hear all these stats,” he said, “and I guarantee you, wherever that coach is, he’s cussing at the TV. … You’ve still got to play the game.”

Or games. The Boston Bruins led the Philadelphia Flyers 3-0 in this year’s NHL Eastern semifinals then lost the next four, ending their colossal collapse in the same building where the Celtics and Magic will play Monday.

But the Bruins had key injuries and a lack of discipline during important stretches. The Celtics are as healthy as they’ve been all season and playing extremely coordinated team defense.

“That’s a whole different sport,” Rajon Rondo(notes) said. “I don’t know what happened in the locker room of the Bruins. I’m not there. I know in our locker room we’re going to stay focused and try to close it out.”

Last season, the Celtics took a 3-2 lead over Orlando then lost the next two games of the Eastern semifinals. But that’s when Kevin Garnett(notes) was sitting on the bench in street clothes because of a knee injury.

Now the vocal leader and best defender on a defensive-minded team is healthy. Pierce is leading the Celtics in scoring in the series, Rondo is setting up the offense with his passing and Ray Allen(notes) is chipping in with key baskets.

But “without Kevin, we can’t win a championship,” Pierce said. “You can’t replace Kevin.”

Garnett is overflowing with the qualities the Magic have lacked in the series—desire, determination and effort.

“They thumped us pretty good,” Van Gundy said. “Everything has to change, from our defensive disposition to our effort to our offensive energy and decision making.”

Dwight Howard(notes) needs a big change. He had only 7 points and 7 rebounds Saturday night after scoring 30 in Game 2.

“I’m not going to give up on myself. I’m not going to give up on my teammates,” he said. “There’s no need for us to be sad. We’re playing a sport that we love.”

There weren’t any long faces at Sunday’s practice. That helped the Magic move on from Saturday’s failure and concentrate on trying to send the series back to Orlando for Game 5 on Wednesday night.

“This is not the team that you saw win 59 games during the course of the season and win the first two series,” Jameer Nelson(notes) said. “You feel better about yourself once you start practicing.

“You can’t do anything about things in the past. You just have to learn from them.”

There were the familiar scenes: Kevin Garnett(notes) pounding his chest, Ray Allen(notes) swishing 3-pointers and Paul Pierce(notes) pumping his fist. Boston was winning, and winning big.

Orlando’s coach was perplexed.

“If you look at them, that’s the (same) team,” Van Gundy said. “What would be the difference?”

These days, it might be hard to tell.

Turning back the clock to make another championship run, the resurgent Celtics are healthy again and looking to take down the playoff-perfect Orlando Magic starting Sunday in an Eastern Conference finals pitting the past two conference champions.

The Celtics, with 17 NBA titles and names such as Larry Bird and Bill Russell hanging from the rafters, want to add to their lore and prove that the bullies from Beantown are back. They’ll have to do it against a favored Orlando team that’s hungry to win its first NBA championship.

“Orlando was the team coming into the season where if you wanted to get out of the East, you had to beat Orlando,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “They’re the team that won the East last year, not Cleveland, and I want to make sure our guys focus on that.”

The motivated Magic, spurred by last year’s NBA finals loss, swept through the first two rounds and have won 14 straight going back to the regular season. They eliminated the Celtics in seven games in the second round a year ago, and went 3-1 against Boston this year.

That might not mean much now.

Garnett, the centerpiece of Boston’s last title, was out with a right knee injury in last year’s playoffs and is now close to full strength for the first time since. Orlando’s starting point guard, Jameer Nelson(notes), also was sidelined with a tear in his right shoulder last season.

Add some fresh faces—headlined by Vince Carter(notes) for the Magic and Rasheed Wallace(notes) for the Celtics—and put a conference title at stake, and this year’s series is getting a facelift.

“You’re talking about pretty much two different teams,” Pierce said. “It should be an interesting matchup.”

The roles are now reversed.

The Magic are the ones with home-court advantage, rolling past Atlanta and Charlotte in the opening rounds. They have peaked at the right time, winning 28 of their last 31 games, many in blowouts.

“I think for us if we want to win the series, we have to do all the things we did in the first two series,” Orlando’s Dwight Howard(notes) said. “And if we do that, we should win. We should win this series, but we all have to believe that and we have to understand that it’s not going to be easy.”

The Magic will have had six days between series and plenty of practices. They also had time to watch Boston take out LeBron James(notes) and the Cleveland Cavaliers with Garnett, who turns 34 next week, leading the way.

Too old to challenge for a title? The Magic don’t believe it.

“There’s no possible way somebody could have watched their 11 playoff games and think that age is any problem,” Van Gundy said. “The only way people could say that is they literally could not have been watching the games.

“I think a lot of what people were calling slippage was health-related,” he added. “All I know is what I’m watching, not only in the Cleveland series but the Miami series, does not look like a team on the decline.”

Before the Magic eliminated the Celtics last season, the series was already being labeled with an asterisk: Garnett was out. It didn’t matter much that Nelson wasn’t playing.

Though the Magic don’t know how a healthy Garnett would have affected last year’s matchup, they know he’ll be a factor come Sunday.

“It’s hard to say,” Magic forward Rashard Lewis(notes) said of last year. “I think it would have been a lot tougher. We beat them in seven. It’s hard to say if we could have beat them without him, and we’ll see if we can beat them this time with him.”

So consider this a remix, with a few oldies added in.

That includes the Magic’s biggest offseason acquisition, the 33-year-old Carter. He takes offense to any slights about age because, after all, he’s in the same 1995 high school class as Garnett and Pierce.

In the conference finals for the first time in his career, Carter intends to make it count. He has warned all his teammates that there’s nobody on Boston too old to compete.

“When I hear them say, ‘Oh, you know, they’re old as far as Kevin and Paul.’ Well, we all came out in ’95 together,” Carter said. “The old guys can still hang with some of the young pups.”

• This game is pivotal. With a victory, it ensures the Cavaliers home court advantage for the rest of the series. They’ll have a shot at the series in Game Six without the pressure of another game played in Boston. Even if they lose, they’ll come back home to Cleveland for the series decider and a home crowd on their side.

• Stat that needs to change: Zero . As in  zero second chance points ! All that screams to me is that the Cavaliers simply got out-hustled. Unacceptable. Just a lack of effort and execution. At the very least, we Cleveland fans demand effort from our teams. If everyone played their hearts out like Joshua Cribbs does when he suits up for the Browns, I would accept the final score knowing that our team left everything on the field/court. Zero second chance points does not tell me that story.

• Stat that needs to change II: 43 . As in 43 minutes played by Anthony Parker . Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big Anthony Parker fan. He’s a great shooter, lengthy defender, and hardworking role player. He just doesn’t need to be playing 43 minutes in a playoff game. Mix it up. Put in the more athletic Jamario Moon to throw Rondo off a  little bit. Now if Parker were shutting Rondo down, I’d be praising the 43 minutes. But, uh, Rajon Rondo only had one of the best playoff performances in Celtic history. So, uh… bad call, Mike Brown .

• Speaking of Mike Brown, is there a developing tiff between this Cavalier team and their head coach? I happen think so. Two things that stuck out to me:
  • LeBron James telling the media that he should guard Rondo. If you really believe that is the first time LeBron had the idea of guarding Rondo, then do me a favor and give the Tooth Fairy my regards. You know LeBron and Brown had discussed this earlier. Brown went with a different game plan. Now LeBron is turning to the media, and basically hinting that “hey guys, if it were up to me, I’d do things differently, OK?”
  • Shaquille O’Neal refusing to speak to the media after the game. Never one to turn down a soundbite, Shaq must have been a bit peeved that, on the night of his best performance of the series, Mike Brown didn’t to put him back in during the fourth quarter. Shaq even asked the coach to put him back in. Brown declined. Shaq then declined to talk to reporters. I think he was pissed.
• “Mike Brown is coaching himself out of the NBA.” — Woody Paige, PTI 5/10
  • Now I don’t know much about NBA coaching. But I do know that watching the Cavs attempt to run an offensive set leaves me feeling awkward. That can’t be a good sign, right? Seriously though, when I watch other teams, I never get that awkward feeling that the offensive plays feel so forced and unnatural in their timing that I know it won’t bode well. It’s like watching Michael Scott make a move on a girl.
  • The awkward offense, combined with the teams lack of intensity, lack of focus, Anthony Parker’s 43 minutes, the developing tiff between the team and coach, all make me want to agree with Woody Paige on this one.

• With all that said: I think the Cavs win tonight. In their previous two losses this postseason, they have rebounded and responded with their best playoff performances. I don’t know why they need a loss to play with that level of intensity, but so far it’s worked. I see them coming out strong again and getting the victory.

Just a couple of weeks ago, the Los Angeles Lakers appeared to be losing their grip on the conference they’ve dominated for nearly three years.

Now that grip looks more like a chokehold again, and only the Phoenix Suns still have a chance to break it.

With six consecutive playoff victories illustrating everything the defending champions do so well, the Lakers earned a week of rest and practice before starting the Western Conference finals at Staples Center on Monday night against Steve Nash’s Suns.

Halfway to the chance to extend his own NBA record with an 11th championship ring, coach Phil Jackson directs the credit for the Lakers’ postseason surge to his veteran roster’s collective playoff wisdom.

“These guys know that you’ve got to save the best for last,” Jackson said. “We’ve generated some energy and got the momentum back in our favor.”

After watching the Lakers’ cool, systematic domination of the Utah Jazz in a four-game second-round sweep, it was easy to forget Los Angeles seemed ripe for picking last month after one of the most unimpressive regular seasons by a No. 1 seed in recent history.

NBA approves sale of Nets to Russian

NEW YORK — The first step in what the New Jersey Nets hope is a quick turnaround is in place.

New owner Mikhail Prokhorov is eager to get started on the rest.

“For those who are already fans of the Nets and the NBA, I intend to give you plenty to cheer about,” the Russian billionaire said in a statement.

The Nets are now officially the Nyets.

Prokhorov’s purchase of the team was approved Tuesday by NBA’s owners, who welcomed the first non-North American into their club.

With one flick of his wrists and in one motion, Jason Richardson buried the Spurs.

With a hand in his face and three seconds left on the shot clock, he pulled up from the right wing and saved a broken play with the dagger triple.

Steve Nash bled again, but the Spurs were the ones in need of an elusive bandaid.

The Phoenix Suns shot as well as a team with human beings can, maybe better. At times, they drilled jumpshots with robotic accuracy.

Championships are rarely won this way, and that applies to both sides. The Suns won’t be as unconscious against the defending champion L.A. Lakers.

The Spurs, despite their vehement protestations, did make things tough on the Suns.

Their effort might have been good enough to beat a few other squads. Not piping hot Phoenix.

The sharpshooting team from the desert burned its South Texas tormentors with a 107-101 victory.

Get out your brooms. For just the second time in the Tim Duncan era, the Spurs could not win a game in a playoff series.

They didn’t lose by 29, as they did to the L.A. Lakers in 2001, but it still hurt. The pain will not subside for at least a few days, maybe weeks.

This strange postseason unfolded the way it did for a reason. The seventh-seeded Spurs showed championship-caliber fight in ousting the second-seeded Dallas Mavericks.

R.C. Buford and Gregg Popovich needed to see their expensive roster grind, bang, and execute as it once did.

The San Antonio brass also needed the harsh lesson a second-round sweep now provides.

The elephant in the room just lost bladder control and threatens to stomp through the house until the foundation fails.

Does it stink in here, or is that just the Spurs’ free-throw shooting?

The box score said “16 turnovers.” Given that they bricked nine free throws and missed countless layups, that number was closer to 30.

The Spurs can no longer hide from the truth. It stares at them now like a stalker dressed in a bright orange jumpsuit covered with flashing neon lights.

It hits them now like a grand piano dropped from the top of the Empire State Building.

Bam!

The Spurs aren’t the same because Duncan isn’t.

In 2005, 2007, and 2008, when San Antonio owned this matchup, Popovich could count on Duncan for 40-plus minutes and 30 points on a given night.

He could miss half of his freebies and still tyrannize opponents.

Steve Nash said this in a post-game presser after a Game Three loss in the 2005 series.

“Tim just puts so much pressure on our defense in every situation,” Nash said. “Just by being on the court, everyone is leaning towards him. The other players are terrific players too, and when you are constantly leaning towards Tim, he can destroy a team. That’s why they are a team that’s won two championships, and that’s why we are down 3-0.”

Duncan had 33 points and 15 rebounds that night and many still called him “one of the best players in the world.”

His best, now, doesn’t guarantee a victory. With his season on the line Sunday night, he stepped up to the foul line and hoisted his free throws with zero hardihood.

One attempt should have been an airball.

Twice in the second half, he missed chip shots that even two years ago were automatic.

He fumbled catchable passes that could have become gimme dunks.

Instead, Father Time was the one who said “gimme.”

This isn’t just about age. His workload matters, too. Popovich managed to limit Duncan’s regular-season minutes.

The 31 he averaged ranks as a career-low. In the postseason, though, he was forced to play in the high 30s and low 40s.

Duncan may still have two years of All-Star basketball left in him. He can still be great on select nights, but he can’t be everything.

He needs bona-fide, seven-foot help. Antonio McDyess, professional and courageous, wasn’t enough.

The Spurs needed more than McDyess’ toughness and his pedigree.

The Lakers won a title by employing three bigs who could stand underneath the hoop and play volleyball.

Size matters, sometimes more than effort. Buford needs Tiago Splitter to come stateside and be better than Anderson Varejao.

Maybe the wizard GM can unearth another impact forward or center in the June draft. If Dejuan Blair fell to the Spurs at 37, can’t the front office find someone even better at 20?

Buford and Popovich patched together competitive rosters—apologies to Fabricio Oberto, Nazr Mohammed, Francisco Elson, and Rasho Nesterovic—with stopgap bigs.

They contributed just enough alongside Duncan to give the team a title shot.

Since David Robinson’s retirement, though, every Spur frontline has been a Duncan-or-bust operation.

That cannot continue. The Spurs need more than just a hustle hound who creates extra possessions with tap-outs and sheer toughness.

Another post-up threat is essential as is a big who can hedge screens and navigate the floor with adequate lateral quickness.

Such a player would make Blair and McDyess more advantageous. Duncan could rest more in these critical April and May contests.

His knees have taken a pounding, and his already underwhelming lift has betrayed him.

He cannot dissect defenses with jumphooks, spin moves, and pump fakes as often.

Sometimes, those shots just don’t fall.

When the opponent’s best player can bag stepback triples with one good eye and George Hill brushing his teeth, that’s not good enough.

Nash’s contested trey in the fourth quarter was the story of this lopsided series.

Or maybe it was Dragic bowling over Hill and hanging mid-air, ala Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan, to bank in the and-one.

Or maybe it was Jared Dudley splitting two Spur defenders for an and-one layup.

The Spurs dominated the paint battle 56 to 38 and lost.

They outscored the Suns 25-9 on the break and lost.

San Antonio’s defense wasn’t as bad as its luck or its unfavorable matchup. How’s that for a 180?

Popovich and Buford will find a way to fill some roster holes this summer. They will need more than spackle for the one that exposes Duncan.

The Spurs have taken Duncan for granted as much as any outsider. In his 13 years, he’s made 13 All-NBA and 13 All-Defense teams.

Fans vote him as an All-Star starter each year, even as many claim he’s tougher to watch than Steven Segal and Jean Claude Van Damme in a Broadway Musical.

They say his game is duller than muzak, and still they gawk.

The Spurs organization has been a loyal viewer, too. It cannot turn off reality this time.

No more Robert Horry. No more assumptions that Duncan can explode in any matchup like an unopened soda can thrown in a campfire.

The Suns eliminated the Spurs in a sweep, finishing off the four-time champs at the AT&T Center. The word “overmatched” applies more than “embarrassment.”

The Spurs might have given the Lakers a tough six-game series, but this is not the time for what-ifs.

After Duncan’s ify showing in a must-win, the organization must face a sure-fire reality.

He has carried the franchise’s hopes on his back for so long. It will take more than McDyess and Blair to lighten the load.

Wanted: seven-foot help for the greatest power forward in NBA history.

Now, he’s Tim Eh. Instead of Timmy.

Most of the current Suns played for other teams in 2005, 2007, and 2008. Many of the current Spurs were also new to this semi-annual scene.

Buford’s offseason list won’t read as long as last year’s, but he must address its biggest item soon.

Another dead-eye shooter or two would do wonders for the Spurs’ out-of-whack spacing.

No addition would mean more, though, than another teammate who doesn’t need to stand on a phonebook to bump Duncan’s forehead.

More size would negate the frustration caused by the Suns jalapeno-hot shooting.

The resulting conflagration will burn in the stomachs of the San Antonio locker room’s fiercest competitors.

If Ginobili’s wife wasn’t due to give birth soon, Popovich might worry about his Argentine star again locking himself in a room to berate himself.

Duncan looked defeated as he trudged off the court, proverbial mud slowing his exit.

Parker will lament a campaign lost to injury. He dealt with every non life-threatening injury possible and listened to some question his ability to bounce back.

The team’s three proud stars will return with a vengeance. Hill, too, should arrive to training camp in late September with a newfound swagger.

Nothing embarrasses him.

McDyess will chase a ring one last time. 2011 is an odd year, after all.

Richard Jefferson isn’t dumb enough to leave a guaranteed $15 million on the table, and a humbling year will make him better and tougher.

Alvin Gentry slapped the scorer’s table midway through the fourth quarter of Game Three when Dragic spun around Hill for a scintillating finish at the rim.

He yelled “Jesus Christ,” according to multiple hoops scribes within an earshot of the Phoenix coach’s shocked but pleased eruption.

Popovich will watch Richardson’s game-clinching three from Sunday night, and nothing in that footage will console him.

Even He, the son of God, could not have defended that.

The Spurs head into the offseason with a paramount task. It bears repeating.

Wanted: seven-foot help for Duncan.

A size boost would make long-distance shots from Richardson sting less.

Taller teams, as the Suns will discover with the Lakers, are tougher to bury.

James scored 21 of his 38 points in the first quarter to help Cleveland beat Boston 124-95 on Friday night

Showing no ill-effects of an elbow problem that was the talk of Cleveland during the three-day layoff since a Game 2 loss at home, James finished with eight rebounds and seven assists. The 21 points in a quarter was a franchise postseason record.

“I know I’m going to hear a lot about the elbow, but I’m here to play basketball and give our team a chance to win,” James said. “We knew how important it was to come out and play aggressively after giving away Game 2.”

Antawn Jamison(notes) had 20 points and 12 rebounds for Cleveland, while Shaquille O’Neal(notes) added 12 points and nine rebounds.

Rajon Rondo(notes), who had 19 assists in Boston’s Game 2 victory on Monday, had 18 points and eight assists.

The Celtics missed 10 of their first 13 shots, hitting just 27 percent in the first quarter to spot Cleveland a 21-point lead. The Cavaliers shot 67 percent from the field in the first—and 59 percent for the game—and Boston was never able to recover. The Celtics’ previous worst home playoff loss was 97-70 to Indiana on May 7, 2005, in Game 7 of the first round.

“It was great to see LeBron set the tone from the jump,” Cleveland coach Mike Brown said. “And the rest of the team followed.”

Game 4 is Sunday, and the Celtics need a victory to split their home games and assure themselves of another.

James wore a black sleeve on his right elbow, which became a concern after he shot a free throw left-handed in the closing minutes of Cleveland’s first-round playoff clincher against Chicago. But he went 8 of 10 from the field in the first quarter—most of them mid- to long-range jumpers—and after that it didn’t matter.

“I think he’s healthy,” said Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who has been dismissive of James’ injury. “His elbow looked very good tonight. So enough with the elbow injury. I think we can go ahead and focus on basketball.”

James headed to the bench to rest his strained and bruised elbow with 5:41 left in the game. For 45 minutes afterward, he had it wrapped in ice.

“I had it going, we had it going,” he said, “and I wasn’t tired.”

The Celtics had high hopes for an upset of the top-seeded Cavaliers after taking Game 2 104-86 in Cleveland to swipe the home-court advantage. But Cleveland earned it back in Game 3, needing just one quarter to silence the Boston crowd that grew even more downcast when the Red Sox and Bruins also fell behind early—and then lost.

“There was no reason for me as a leader to be angry,” James said. “We played awful in Game 2, and I knew how important the next game was. I know how important the whole series is.”

The fans booed when Boston left the court at halftime down 65-43. And they cleared the building midway through the fourth, when Rivers pulled his starters and James headed to the bench to rest his strained and bruised right elbow.

“That was embarrassing. That’s embarrassing when you lose at home like that,” said Paul Pierce(notes), who scored 11 points on 4-of-15 shooting and didn’t make his first basket until midway through the second quarter.

“We just let our guard down. … You’ve got to know the Cleveland Cavaliers are going to come in here with all the urgency in the world. They took the fight to us early, and we didn’t respond to it.”

James scored eight straight points to make it a 10-point lead midway through the first, and seven points during an 11-0 run that made it 36-15 with 19 seconds left in the quarter. Cleveland led by 24 points in the second quarter, 30 in the third, and never by less than 20 in the entire second half.

“He was playing H-O-R-S-E,” Rivers said. “We were awful. We just didn’t play with the same intensity they did. They played with a Game 7 mentality.”

Notes: The national anthem was sung by sandal-wearing Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir. … The Celtics had a moment of silence for Bobby Vines, a 45-year-old sales account executive who died after a lifelong battle with sickle cell anemia. … The NBA record for points in a quarter of a playoff game is held by Sleepy Floyd, who had 29 in 1987 for Golden State. … James reached 2,000 playoff points in his career.

“It’s been good for us. It’s been good for me, and it’s been good for both teams,” Cavaliers forward LeBron James(notes) said. “We all know this is going to be one of the most physical series that this league has to offer. Anytime you get a little rest, it’s great to have.”

James has been diagnosed with a bone bruise and strain in his right elbow. He tested his elbow Thursday at practice in Independence, Ohio, before boarding a plane for Boston, and the team said he would not need another MRI.

At their workout facility in Waltham, Celtics big men Kevin Garnett(notes) and Kendrick Perkins(notes) were back at practice a day after sitting out to recover.

“I’m not injured. I just banged my foot,” Garnett said. “I’m definitely ready to go.”

Garnett came down with a what the team said was strain in his right foot when Perkins landed on him with about three minutes left in Monday night’s game. Boston won 104-86 to even the best-of-seven series at one game apiece and steal home-court advantage from the 61-win Cavaliers.

Boston hadn’t won a playoff game in Cleveland in six tries since 1992. Now the Cavaliers will have to win a game in Boston, where they haven’t won in the postseason since the ’92 conference semis, or face a 3-1 deficit that would leave them at the brink of elimination.

“We have a veteran ballclub and guys know how important this game is,” James said. “We knew it was going to be a tough series, and we didn’t think it was going to be a bed of roses at any point in time. Now we have to go to Boston and try to win a couple.”

The Celtics took Tuesday off, and Garnett did not participate when they returned to practice the next day, raising fears of a prolonged absence like the one that kept him out of the 2009 playoffs and doomed their chances of repeating as NBA champions.

Garnett said he wanted to practice Wednesday, but the coaches and trainers told him to rest.

“We live on the planet of Doc Rivers,” he said.

After an extra day off, the swelling that ballooned his foot on the flight home from Cleveland had subsided. Garnett was back on the floor Thursday, and he said there was nothing that his foot prevented him from doing in practice.

Rivers said Garnett did “most” of the usual workload.

“I didn’t really want him to go much today, but he was moving so well so I just let him go,” he said.

Perkins agreed: “He didn’t look injured to me.”

Garnett was already off the floor by the time the media were allowed into practice, but Perkins remained long after most of his teammates had left for some extra work on his low-post moves. He showed no signs of an injury, which he said he sustained during Monday’s pregame shootaround.

Perkins played 31 minutes with the injury in Game 2 and scored 10 points with nine rebounds.

“It feels better since the last game on Monday,” he said. “There’s still a little pain, but there’s nothing serious.”

Perkins said point guard Rajon Rondo(notes) was also banged-up from getting knocked around in the series. Rondo took a hard foul from 325-pound Cavs center Shaquille O’Neal(notes) in the closing minutes of Game 1 on Saturday that forced the 186-pound point guard to take a few minutes before shooting the free throws.

“I think the time off helps us a lot for guys who need the rest,” Perkins said.