With the Celtics in danger of getting pushed out of the playoffs by the Cavaliers, the team would like Kevin Garnett to plant himself nearer the hoop -- and not get pushed away.

Garnett has been playing well, but the club wants him to establish himself inside, especially in crunch time.

"I want him in five spots, basically," coach Doc Rivers said. "I want him on the post both sides, two steps off on both sides and then at the nail (free throw line extended to the elbows). Those are the five, and if we can get him in those spots, then we feel very confident.

"Sometimes now he's getting pushed off the blocks, so what we're trying to do is set picks for him to allow him to get to that spot, rather than him fighting every possession to get that spot."

When Garnett has tried to set himself inside, the Cavs have done a good job of shoving him out of the way. The thought is he might be better off stopping directly under the rim and getting pushed to the block.

"He's had a couple of situations where he could have stopped, but he's coming out to the ball," said Rivers. "That's a habit he's had his whole career."

And if Garnett does get the ball inside?

"It's really tough to stop him," said Rivers. "And that's something we keep talking about. We've done it some, but I think we've still got to do a better job of getting him the ball. Guys have to set better picks to free him so he can get to those spots."

CELTICS 96, CAVALIERS 89: The Celtics got 29 points from Paul Pierce and 26 from Kevin Garnett, but if it wasn't for two big second quarter 3-pointers by Rajon Rondo, they likely would have been in serious trouble in Game 5 against the Cavs Wednesday.

Rondo had career highs of 20 points and 13 assists as the Celts came back from 14 points down to take a 3-2 lead in the conference semifinal series.

"He was definitely the X-factor out there," said LeBron James, who broke out with 35 points. "When they were down, he hit two 3's. It was something defensively that we wanted to give up. He hadn't made too many of those in the series.

"He was the X-factor, 20 and 13 with one turnover ... that speaks for itself. Without Rondo tonight, it would have been a much tougher game for them. He was definitely the player of the game tonight."

The Celts were up 11 in the last quarter, but the Cave came back to cut the margin to four with 45 seconds left. Pierce scored the Celts' last eight points from the free throw line, however, to maintain control.

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