The Celtics certainly seem to be ready for tomorrow night’s rematch with Orlando — although the stakes will be far different than when they met in the playoffs.

“Looking forward to playing them? Sure,” said Kevin Garnett. “Nothing more, nothing less than that.”

The extra Celtics edge comes from playing the team that eliminated them.

“Yeah, it’s always going to be there,” said Kendrick Perkins. “They beat us in Game 7 at our house — actually I think they blew us out — so we’ve got to come back and get that back. We have something to prove.” …

Doc Rivers on the Magic: “They’re the team everybody’s chasing in the East. They won the championship of the East last year, so as far as we’re concerned they’re the favorite and Cleveland’s the second favorite and we’re the third. So it’ll be good to see where we’re at.” …

Paul Pierce on talk of Allen Iverson coming back: “I didn’t believe Iverson retired. I think he has too much pride. He still has a lot left in the tank. We just watched in the locker room a story on him and New York. I hope he can make a return. I think New York would be a great fit for him. He can kind of go out there and showcase what he still has. I just hope we don’t have to see him on Sunday.”

As expected, Paul Pierce was pronounced ready to play against the Warriors tonight despite his recovery from a sprained left knee.

“He’s fine,” said Doc Rivers. “Ready to go. It wasn’t anything bad. I didn’t think he recovered well in the Atlanta game, and it would have been nice to sit him out in the next game, but obviously we can’t get that back. As we know this week, you don’t get do-overs.”

He didn’t comment on the actual play, but Doc Rivers was very much in Bll Belichick’s corner after today’s practice. The Celtics coach said he could easily understand why the Patriots coach didn’t issue a mea culpa for Sunday night’s decision to go for it on fourth down and two - a choice that ultimately cost the Patriots in their loss to the Colts.

“You read your team,” said Rivers. “If you like your team you take risks. But you don’t get a do-over in coaching, and that’s the difference. Everything else you get to sit around and talk about it after the fact – coaching, you have to make the decision. You make it, you live with it, and you don’t apologize.”

So much for Doctor (Rivers’) orders. Though the Celtics coach said yesterday that Paul Pierce would miss the two days of practice leading up to tomorrow night’s game against Golden State, the Celtics captain walked onto the floor today anyway.

“I got a good response from my last couple of days of rest,” Pierce said after running through the full session. “I felt good about it. It went smooth. A slight sprain in the knee, but I’m a fast healer. I felt good.”

“Pretty tough,” he said of what it takes to keep him off the floor, and his ability to talk himself into Saturday’s game in Indiana after suffering the injury a night earlier. “I’m a little bit older, so I’m smart about things. I felt really good today. My body responded really well to the treatment.”

In restrospect, though, Pierce admits that he probably shouldn’t have played against the Pacers.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have played, because the knee was really tender and I had to play wih a big wrap on it,” he said. “Sometimes rest is good because it’s a long season, but I’m happy with what I did the last couple of days and seeing how it felt. It felt good.”

On another front, a team source denied that the Celtics are in discussions to join a three-team deal that would land them Sacramento swingman Andres Nocioni. The team simply doesn’t have the flexibility to absorb Nocioni’s contract, which pays him $20.5 million over the next three seasons.

When the Atlanta Hawks extended the eventual champion Celtics to seven games in the first round of the 2008 playoffs, it was expected to boost the young team’s confidence. According to the Hawks, that’s exactly what happened.

“I think we had a lot of growth and it was thanks to that series,” Hawks forward Al Horford said after this morning’s shootaround at the Garden. “Obviously, Boston looks at it as just a step for them when they won the championship. For us, it was a little bigger deal because I feel like we grew up as young players. We’re still getting better and I think our team is better because of that now.”

The Hawks won 37 games and slipped into those playoffs as the East’s eighth seed. Last year, they took a big step forward, winning 47 games to secure the fourth seed in the East. The Hawks’ playoff experience against the C’s paid off, as they beat the Heat in the first round before being swept by the Cavs.

Off to a 6-2 start this season, Hawks coach Mike Woodson still looks back to the 2008 playoffs as the launching point for his squad’s recent success.

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After yesterday’s practice, Kevin Garnett was asked if he considers the Atlanta Hawks a rival. The Celtics forward responded, “Not at all.” That comment didn’t surprise Al Horford, though the Hawks forward believes the C’s know they’ll have a battle on their hands when the teams face off tonight at 8 at the Garden.

“I’m sure they feel that way, but I know that when they go out on the court, they’re on edge,” Horford said after this morning’s shootaround at the Garden. “And they know what time it is because we’re going to bring our game.”

The Hawks earned some respect when they forced the Celtics to seven games in the first round of the 2008 playoffs. The C’s advanced and went on to win the championship, but the series resonated. There were a number of chippy moments, from Garnett going nose-to-nose with Atlanta’s Zaza Pachulia to KG’s series-punctuating throat slash late in Game 7.

Horford was also in the middle of a number of dust-ups during the series. After making a crucial shot late in the Hawks’ Game 3 win, Horford jawed with Paul Pierce. Pierce responded with an infamous “menacing” hand gesture that drew a $25,000 fine from the league. And then a week before this season, Horford was on an Atlanta radio show and said that Pierce owed him $10,000 from a bet the Celtics forward made during one of the C’s blowout wins in the first two games that his team would sweep the series.

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After another disappointing result, Utah Jazz point guard Deron Williams posted the following on his Twitter page:

“We got to change something (because) what we doing ain’t working right now! Don’t know what but something?????”

The Celtics rolled over the Jazz, 105-86, tonight at the Garden. The loss dropped the Jazz, a playoff team last season, to 3-5.

Williams played through a calf injury and finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists in 33 minutes. But the All-Star was a game-worst  -21 in the plus/minus category and was outplayed by Rajon Rondo, who had 14 points and 11 assists.

Obviously the Jazz have their own issues, but it’s a good sign for the C’s if they’re causing another team’s star player to wonder publicly wonder what is wrong with his team.

Allen Iverson’s troubles in Memphis, with the aging star weighing retirement against the prospect of coming off the bench, highlight the crossroads that most NBA players in their early thirties have to face.

“It depends on the player – you can or you can’t do it,’’ said Rasheed Wallace, who has made that transition in his first year as a Celtic.

Wallace, though, can’t speak for his former Detroit teammate.

“I haven’t talked with him since this summer,’’ Wallace said after today’s practice. “But I’m pretty sure that it’s tough for him.’’

The key to moving from starter to reserve, according to Wallace, lies in accepting the decline in one’s abilities.

“I’ve already accepted that I can’t jump no more,’’ he said. “I’m not as athletic as I used to be.

“But when you lose that step or two, you have to pick up that step or two in your head,’’ said Wallace. “It’s an adjustment, but one that I’ve made before. It depends on the mentality of that person. It can be an advantage or a disadvantage. You have to be able to step into a game and catch that flow.’’

Depending on who you ask, Grant Hill either nearly became a Celtic last summer or knew all along that he was going to remain a Sun.

Even the Phoenix swingman, who has enjoyed a late-career renaissance as a Sun, seemed a little unsure of the machinations prior to tonight’s game against the Celtics.

“Man, there was a lot going on at the time,” he said. “I was trying to gather a lot of information, trying to sort out all of the teams I was looking at. I was certainly very interested, and it was very flattering to have their interest.

“I can tell you that I have a lot of respect for Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers and (Celtics owner) Steve Pagliuca, who’s a fellow Dukie, of course,” said Hill. “But (Phoenix) was just the right place. Boston has put together a great team, and they have great guys, but (Phoenix) just felt like home to me.”

Rivers, who coached Hill in 0rlando, where he mostly waited for this snakebitten star to recover from injuries, believes Hill was close to becoming a Celtic.

He also believes that Hill wasn’t ready to come off the bench, ala Rasheed Wallace or Marquis Daniels.

“We were very close,” said Rivers. “He changed his mind and decided to stay put. He just knew who they were - it was that simple. But I think at the end of the day it came down to him not being ready to come off the bench. He wanted to play a lot of minutes.”

The talk about the Celtics goal to be the best defensive team ever has become a familiar storyline throughout the early part of the season. So when Suns coach Alvin Gentry said after this morning’s shootaround at the Garden that the C’s defense ranks among the best in the history of the league, it wasn’t exactly a noteworthy statement. But Gentry’s assessment of the Celtics defense did include some interesting insight.

Gentry was effusive in his praise of  Kendrick Perkins.

“They’ve got a guy that’s probably as good a one-on-one defender as there is in the league with the big guys that he plays against,” Gentry said of Perkins. “You got a guy that can guard a Dwight Howard or Tim Duncan or any of those guys… I think he’s really made a big jump as far as improvement. He’s a strong kid, he’s still a baby really, when you think about the years he’s been in the league and the age that he is right now. I think he gives them that really tough enforcer guy that bounces around in there.” 

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