Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers is still going on about the subject of restraint and mental toughness.  This topic has been in the spotlight ever since his Celtics lost to the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.  One particular incident involved Paul Pierce getting ejected after throwing an elbow to a Pacer player in crunch time after being fouled on the perimeter.

''Danny Fortson knocked down [Manu] Ginobili. And Ginobili got right back up, made the two free throws, and the Spurs won the game.

''To me, that's toughness," said the Celtics coach. ''I keep telling our guys that there's a big difference between being physical and playing aggressive and responding. If someone fouls you hard, you don't respond. You do what Ginobili did. You turn the other cheek, make the free throws and win the game. To me, turning the other cheek is much more of a sign of toughness than pushing back."

Dave Cowens, 57, was hired Thursday to coach and be the general manager of Chicago's expansion WNBA team.

"This seemed like an adventure, this seemed like something a little bit different, so I put it all together and decided this was the best thing for me to do," Cowens said.

Cowens spent 10 out of 11 seasons in Boston during his Hall Of Fame career.

Boston entrepreneur and philanthropist Steve Belkin, has almost owned the Celtics twice and as an owner of the Hawks sent Antoine Walker back home to Boston.  After a season where his Atlanta Hawks won a franchise low 13 games and his NHL team, the Atlanta Thrashers didn?t even take the ice, Belkin still remains satisfied with the whole business of ownership.

''It's exceeded my expectations," said Belkin yesterday. ''It's a lot more work than I thought. Our [basketball] team's record wasn't that good, but we have a long-term vision. We have some young rookies who are quite good. And now we have a draft pick that will significantly help us."

Celtics basketball operations director Danny Ainge was given a three-year contract extension Friday, following a season in which Boston won its first division title in 13 years.

Ainge's contract had been scheduled to expire after next season, but the extension will keep him with the team through the 2008-09 season, Celtics spokesman Jeff Twiss said.

Financial terms of the deal were not released.

Celtics? executive director of basketball operations Danny Ainge believes the Boston Celtics players need to work on their behavior issues, especially when reacting to referees.

"There's some code of conduct issues that we're going to evaluate," he said Thursday. "I don't want to make it sound like we're running some sort of military camp. There's just certain things that have to be expected that I think that we let slide."

Though he said there were more positives than negatives during the season, Ainge added more "emotional stability is needed" and individual meetings will be held with players.

After losing Game 7 to Indiana 97-70 Celtics coach Doc Rivers is still pretty shaken up.

"The season ended as bad as it can end," Rivers said yesterday at the team's practice facility. "We lost our composure. We lost our mental toughness. For them to do it on our floor is what eats at me still. All we've done the last few days as coaches is ask ourselves, `What could we have done differently?' "

"I was up, 3-1, with Orlando, but look who we were playing [Detroit] and look at the fact that Tracy McGrady was playing out of his mind until the Pistons put the clamps on him," Rivers said. "This team had more talent. I expected to go past the first round. But you have to have team success together and we didn't. When things are going well, they're great. When they're not, they don't get it. You can be 30. You can be 40. You get it or you have to try and get it. But I'd rather have that to work on than not have the talent."

Boston coach Doc Rivers, whose Celtics were ousted only two nights ago from the NBA playoffs by the Indiana Pacers, is being flooded with offers of analyst work for the remainder of the playoffs.  

Rivers commentary during the 2004 playoffs was very popular among fans so it seemed fitting that he might do it again this year.  But for now, Rivers doesn?t want to think about Basketball.

``My agent just called and I said no - at least not for the first week or so,'' he said of analyst work. ``I'll go through all the possibilities, but right now I need a break. I'll go watch curling. I'll go hit some golf balls.''

Following a lackluster team performance that saw the Boston Celtics fall 97-70 to the Indiana Pacers, many people are now looking to Antoine Walker.  Though he had a good Game 7 numbers wise, collective sighs could be heard around the Fleet Center every time Walker threw up one of his questionable shots only 4-6 seconds into the shot clock.  The boo-birds eventually followed.

"It's kind of mind-boggling," Walker said. "You work so hard to get home-court advantage and you have important games on your floor. If you had told me we were going to lose three games on our home floor, I would never have believed it at the start of the series because we play so well in [this] building."

Walker wants to return next season but knows it is entirely possible that Boston may try and go in a different direction.

"Hopefully, I'm back," Walker said. "I like this team. I like playing for Doc Rivers. But obviously the future is determined by the Celtics organization and what they want to do. My No. 1 priority is to be here and hopefully I can stay here. I like the nucleus that we have. The way the Eastern Conference is shaping up, you're going to have to be 10, 11 deep to try to win a division title. Hopefully I'll be back. I'll let my agent handle it in the summer time."

The Boston Celtics season came to an end on Saturday in embarassing fashion, as they were dominated by the Indiana Pacers by a final score of 97-90.

Stephen Jackson led the Pacers with 24 points, while Fred Jones came off the bench with 16.

The Celtics were only down three at the half, but in the second half the Pacers outscored Boston 62-38.

Antoine Walker had 20 points in what will likely be his last game in Boston.  Paul Pierce had 19 points, but no other Celtics were in double-figures.

The Pacers are now set to play the Pistons in a best of seven series.

Game 7's are one of the most exciting events in sport and need no subplot, but with Reggie Miller set to retire at season's end, he and the Pacers must play tonight's game in Boston like it will be his last if they lose, because it will be.

``No one wants the season to be over and no one wants it to be over for Reggie,'' Indiana's Stephen Jackson said Friday. ``Reggie is the biggest motivator here.''

``Obviously, we'd like to win for Reggie, but we have to want to win it ourselves,'' Jermaine O'Neal said. ``I'm pretty sure Reggie feels the same way. He always tells us we have to win it for ourselves.''