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Silas picked Davis dealFormer Cavaliers and now-Celtics guard Ricky Davis was definitely on the way out in Cleveland and it was head coach Paul Silas who choose the deal. "It has been learned that Paxson was making tentative deals with Minnesota, Miami and Dallas before the Boston package was accepted. The plans were laid out on the table for Silas and he took the defensive-minded veterans (Eric Williams, Tony Battie, and Kedrick Brown from the Celtics) because that's what he covets more than slick shooters and athletic specimens." Via Brian Windhorst of the Akron Beacon Journal Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Finley to miss games in Boston, MinnesotaDALLAS (AP) Injured Dallas Mavericks players Michael Finley and Shawn Bradley will miss the team's next two games against Boston and Minnesota. Finley is out with a sprained right toe. Bradley has back spasms. The Mavericks will return to Dallas following their back-to-back set in Boston on Wednesday and Minnesota the following night. They play at home against the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night. Dallas Mavericks, Boston Celtics, Minnesota Timberwolves Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Former Boston star Walker returnsBOSTON (AP) If Antoine Walker is booed in Boston, he'll be used to it. Even when he played for the Celtics, home fans hooted at his off-target shots. ``I'm not really worried about it,'' he said on Tuesday as he prepared for his homecoming game. ``I went through some boo years up there when we weren't playing well.'' With the Celtics struggling, fans are unlikely to greet Walker warmly when he returns Wednesday night with Midwest Division leader Dallas. ``We're faced with another obstacle,'' Celtics guard Paul Pierce said. ``Hopefully, things will work out.'' The first obstacle was the five-player trade Oct. 20 that sent Walker to the Mavericks. The latest is Monday's six-player swap that brought Ricky Davis from Cleveland and cost the Celtics reliable veterans Eric Williams and Tony Battie, who were prized by coach Jim O'Brien. The players the Celtics acquired for Walker and guard Tony Delk haven't done much. Raef LaFrentz played 17 of the team's 25 games and is expected to miss the rest of the season after knee surgery Monday. Chris Mills isn't likely to return either. Both are on the injured list. Only swingman Jiri Welsch has helped. He won the starting forward job, averaging 6.2 points per game. But he could lose his starting job to Davis. Walker is averaging 18.2 points per game and he scored 27 in Monday night's win over Toronto. He leads Dallas with 10 rebounds per game and is second with an average of 4.7 assists. Walker even took a shot at Danny Ainge, Boston's executive director of basketball operations, who made the trades. He called Ainge a ``snake'' in a Boston Globe interview last week and said, ``I think he was really trying to set my career back a little bit.'' Ainge backed off any confrontation. ``I'm not going to get into a squabble with Antoine Walker,'' he said. ``I knew that this (trade) might be a step backward.'' Ainge is planning for the long term. He prefers an up-tempo attack and thought Walker handled the ball too much and took too many 3-pointers that clanged off the rim at critical moments. So Ainge traded his star and captain, who averaged 20.8 points in seven seasons with Boston. Dallas coach Don Nelson advised Walker to ``let that go'' and on Tuesday, the player complied. ``It's over with for me,'' he said. ``I have nothing else further to say about Danny or about that situation. I wish those guys luck.'' The Celtics reached the Eastern Conference finals in 2002 and the semifinals last season, but only four players remain from last year's squad. Boston is 12-13 after Monday's loss to Minnesota ended a five-game winning streak. Meanwhile, the Mavericks have the third best record in the tough Western Conference. ``My goals are much different than their goals,'' Walker said. ``What we're trying to establish and accomplish here is much different than what they're trying to do up there, obviously.'' Walker shrugged off the homecoming. ``It's the same like every other game,'' he said. ``I want to play well against everybody.'' But he's eager to see his former teammates, although three of them left Monday for Cleveland. ``It's always nice to go back and play against your old teammates,'' he said. ``Man, there ain't too many of them left now.'' Pierce, Boston's lone star after Walker left, is one of them. ``I can't wait for it, to see him. He's having a great year so far for the Mavericks,'' Pierce said. ``I don't know if they'd be where they are without him.'' Boston Celtics, Dallas Mavericks Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Celtics Dec 2003 Archive
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