Boston 87, Milwaukee 74

At this point in the season, the game is "whatever." Rajon R-ndo returned and notched double-digit assists again -- 15 of 'em, in just 25 minutes of court action. (Rondo took just one shot, an end-of-the-clock job, and was the only one of the 13 Celtics who played who didn't score.) The one thing I want to talk about is the fact that Paul Pierce suffered a mild toe injury in the first quarter. It's probably nothing serious, but I don't understand why Doc decided to play Pierce and KG tonight after sitting them last week against Atlanta. If the goal was home court advantage against the Hawks (which we would've earned tonight only by winning and having Atlanta lose at home to a Dallas team who is resting guys for the postseason), we should have played all out for it from the get-go. It doesn't make sense to do it now; no circumstances have changed. If, on the other hand, the goal was to get some guys in synch with R-ndo, then I guess I can buy that. Anyway, the first playoff game is Sunday night, 7 pm Eastern, in Atlanta, on TNT, the third game in the second consecutive quadruple-header in what is the NBA playoffs' version of the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Atlanta's going to be without Al Horford for the entire series, and likely will be without Zaza Pachulia for the first couple of games. That's good news for Boston, as it eliminates a big part of their offensive rebounding, which is an advantage every team has on us.