As coach of the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics, Rivers wouldn't mind being able to summon the gift of healing. But it seems that such hands-on, almighty miracles are limited to the purview of college basketball coaches. Or so we've been led to believe ... by the college coaches.

Anyway, Doc Rivers does not have the skill to fix Kevin Garnett's knee, Rajon Rondo's ankle or even Rondo's jump shot. The first two physical maladies are part of a five-player injury plague that may have transformed the Cs into a team capable of settling into the Eastern Conference's No. 2 playoff seed.

And while that may not be just dandy to the team, its support staff or its fans, Doc and his crew are telling us the possibility of losing home-court advantage for a potential conference-finals series is far from a repeat killer.

It has been posited that by winning two playoff games in Detroit and one in Los Angeles last year, the Cs are immune to a road funk that attended their first two postseason dates for 2008. You probably remember the great hullabaloo surrounding the eventual champs as their regular-season swagger surrendered to a combined 0-6 playoff run through Atlanta and Cleveland.

But in interviews with Boston-area beat writers, Rivers assured us those struggles were a product of a team that had yet to establish a playoff identity. Although Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce certainly seem to define the essence of postseason grit now, the collective was playing without June portfolio before joining forces in the summer of 2007.

OK, so now that this identity has been forged in the fires of championship triumph, Boston should be good to go, regardless of venue, eh? Well, that's not a bad concept.

Just to satisfy our curiosity, let's take a look at how the Celtics are doing on the road during this regular season. Interestingly, with 17 games left to play and eight of those away from Boston, the Cs have as many road defeats as they absorbed all of last season.

Do we detect fraud in this sales job to promote an ability to muscle up while wearing the green jerseys? Nah, the Celtics have had those aforementioned injury issues and are attempting to develop young players into rotation regulars.

It's also no hayride being the hunted.

But after last week's home-court uprising against the (for now) top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers and a flop vs. Orlando's Magic two days later, Boston finds itself two games behind the Cavs in what everyone assumes is that season-saving home-court chip.

This means it's time to spit on the hands and get down to regular-season-ending work, right? Well, Doc insists having home-court advantage is not worth the risk of playing key Celtics before they're completely healthy.

That's some pretty nice wisdom, of course, but with KG out for another week and Rondo still gimpy, Rivers' first-seed-chasing option may be obliterated. Or is it? After Wednesday's loss in Miami, the Celtics meet (in order) the Memphis Grizzlies, Milwaukee Bucks (road), Chicago Bulls (road) and Heat again (home). Only eight of the last 18 games will be contested against teams with winning records.

Rivers may be able to win a large percentage of these games if the NBA's interpretation of the economic bailout has a positive impact on Boston. By the way, that interpretation is referred to as the "buyout" and enabled the Cs to suit up vagabond big man Mikki Moore and point guard Stephon Marbury, who had been exiled by the New York Knicks.

Moore and Marbury were hired to attempt replication of the P.J. Brown-Sam Cassell efforts from the 2008 playoffs. With the team training room now pushing the fire marshal's limit, the pace of their Celtic assimilation has been accelerated. But to have the newcomers up to relative speed for the playoffs, Rivers may have been planning to use them more than reason would dictate, anyway.

In the process, a game or two may have to be conceded. Also note that if Marbury can't figure out how to handle on-ball defensive pressure without turning his back on the guy guarding him, we may see Rondo and his ankle in a tent revival.

While faithful Celtics fans grit their teeth at the image of Cleveland's LeBron James dusting off the crab dribble or Wally Szczerbiak channeling Bingo Smith for Cavaliers home games, Doc is preaching big picture and even threatening to create a little down time for Pierce and Allen.

With a combined record of 4-5 against the Cavs, Magic, Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs (that includes home losses to the Lakers and Spurs with a Garnett on the floor), we have to admire the coach's confidence in that playoff resume.

Even when healthy, Doc's team is a streak show. It has followed a 19-game winning streak with a run of seven defeats in nine games and another consecutive-victory stringof 12.

But it's the six-road-losses-in-a-row, 2008 playoff funk that fuels the worrywarts and inspires suggestions of lifeguards stationed next to the team whirlpool.

By the way, Doc became Doc when Majerus, who was coaching at Marquette at the time, spied young Rivers wearing a T-shirt featuring despised Philly 76ers star Julius Erving at a basketball camp. If Rivers helps Boston hang another banner, Celtics fans will care even less.

And if Doc's successfully juggles the health over home-court prescription, the chances of recovering the title are quite promising.