It's known as "The Jungle," and apparently with good reason.

When the Boston Celtics' opponents come into the FleetCenter, they're advised to bring machetes, so that they can clear away all the vines and trees.

Then maybe they can find the basket.

	Jason Kidd, left, and the Nets ran into a tougher Celtics defense in Game 2.

If the old Garden featured leprechauns and ghosts and the most celebrated parquet floor in the world, the Fleet seems to have wall-to-wall vines, the way Boston opponents have been unable to locate the rim in these 2002 playoffs.

When the New Jersey Nets invade The Jungle this weekend in the Eastern Conference finals, they're going to attempt to become the first Boston opponent of the playoffs to make at least 40 percent of its shots in a game.

In their three wins at home over the Sixers in the first round, the Celtics held Allen Iverson and Co. to games of 38 percent, 38.8 percent and 39.4 percent shooting, while giving up 82, 85 and 87 points. Against the Pistons, The Jungle swallowed up Jerry Stackhouse and Co. to the tune of one 64-point game (on 34.5 percent shooting) and a 79-point outing (on 37.3 percent).

Detroit and Philly will never be confused with Dallas or Sacramento, but still, you've got to be impressed with how the Celtics defend on their home turf. All told, the visitors have made only 140 shots in 371 attempts -- a mere 37.7 percent -- while averaging only 79.4 points per game. On the all-important win-loss column, the playoff scoreboard shows: The Jungle 5, Opponents 0.

No wonder Antoine Walker couldn't wait to leave the Meadowlands after the Celtics stole away the Nets' homecourt edge with a 93-86 win in Game 2.

"We're tough in The Jungle," he said.

Tougher than anybody still playing. Boston is the only team that still hasn't suffered a home defeat in the playoffs.

Certainly, the Fleet's maiden voyage in these playoffs has been nothing but clear sailing. Boston has been waiting for an Eastern Conference champion for the last 15 years.

But really, as with any team that's competing for a title, it's not the building or the rims that have been the key to success. The Jungle has about as much to do with the Celtics' success as Tarzan. It's the Celtics' defense that has returned them to prominence and turned the conference finals in their favor.

"Write anything you want to write about Boston, but it's always been about defense," head coach Jim O'Brien said. "Anything we get offensively is a bonus."

It's the same defense that held Detroit to only 24 baskets on May 10, when the two teams combined for only 130 points, shattering the record for fewest points scored in a playoff game. That game set offense back a few centuries, but afterward, O'Brien smiled: "It looked beautiful to me."

Because he won, of course.

But that particular brand of defense was nowhere to be found in Game 1 of the conference finals at the Meadowlands. Last Sunday, the Nets did whatever they wanted, scoring a whopping 38 baskets off layups or shots when they had clear paths to the hoops. The Celtics had allowed an average of 12-13 per game during the season, but they were headed for a long day and a loss when they gave up 17 in the first 16 minutes. The Nets got to the basket so easily, it was as if the Celtics had never scouted their opponent.

The last time anyone had witnessed such a total breakdown by Boston came nearly five months ago, long before anyone suspected that these two teams would be playing for the right to get rolled by the Lakers. Out in Sacramento on Dec. 30, the Kings lit up the Celtics for 109 points in a 15-point romp. But that was the final stop of a four-games-in-five-nights West Coast trip, typical in an NBA season.

Except for Game 1 against Detroit, when the Pistons made shots from the perimeter all night long and the Celtics were still basking in the glory of their Game 5 win over Philly, their postseason defense has been of the variety Bill Russell could relate to. They had surrendered fewer than 87 points in eight of their first 10 games, allowing in those eight 79.8 points per game.

	“	They're a good team. But when we play our type of team defense, they can't beat us. Know what I'm sayin'? They've got Jason Kidd who can handle the pressure and he can make a shot. But other than that, they don't have nobody that can hurt us. ”
		— Kenny Anderson

"We just didn't play," said Dick Harter, the defensive guru on O'Brien's staff, after Game 1. "What caused it? I don't know. Maybe winning four games in a row and playing well, you start thinking you've got it under control. But you never have defense under control. It always leaves you. We had no effort. We had no toughness."

Two days later, though, the Celtics had loads of effort, toughness, anticipation, legs, smarts, aggressiveness ... everything they've been showing in The Jungle this postseason.

They didn't allow the Nets to shoot more than 37 perent in any one quarter, overcoming Paul Pierce's wretched shooting and a subpar performance out of Walker. Only this kind of defense would prevent the Celtics from losing when their two stars shot a combined 14-of-52.

"We did what we wanted to do," Harter said. "We had no change in our tactics. Just a change in the effort. We contested their perimeter shots, I thought, well. Maybe we got a little tired in the fourth quarter."

It didn't matter. From the opening tip, the Celtics perfectly carried out a three-pronged attack. One, don't let the Nets free in the post. Two, don't let Jason Kidd drive into the paint. Three, make the Nets shoot from the perimeter. With points one and two covered, the Celtics watched the Nets fail to shoot more than 37 percent for any one quarter.

"There was one more guy in the paint," Kidd said after he was cut off on his penetrations time and again. "They made a conscious effort to protect the paint. They did a great job, making it a perimeter-type game and forcing us to kick it out."

Now, as this series shifts from the Swamps of Jersey to the Jungle of Boston, the Celtics believe they have the Nets all figured out.

"They're a transition team, period," Kenny Anderson said. "Stop their transition and you've got a chance to beat them. If we had made our free throws, we win by 20. Something like that."

"They're a good team," Anderson added. "But when we play our type of team defense, they can't beat us. Know what I'm sayin'? They've got Jason Kidd who can handle the pressure and he can make a shot. But other than that, they don't have nobody that can hurt us. We don't think so."

Especially in The Jungle.

Mitch Lawrence, who covers the NBA for the New York Daily News, writes a regular NBA column for ESPN.com.