BOSTON -- If the Boston Celtics don't find a way to get off to a better start, there is a greater chance their season will come to a finish Friday night in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Sign cuts deep

A fan trying to shake up Boston's Paul Pierce with a sign referring to his stabbing two years ago failed to make the point, because Pierce didn't see the sign. A fan sitting six rows behind the baseline at the Continental Airlines Arena for Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday night held up a sign reading: "Will someone please stab Paul Pierce.'' Pierce was stabbed nearly a dozen times in the neck, back and chest and hit over the head with a bottle on Sept. 25, 2000, outside a Boston nightclub. Arena security made the fan put the sign down. Pierce didn't know about it until he was asked about it after practicing for Friday's Game 6, when the series returns to Boston. "I wasn't aware of it,'' he said. "People are going to say what they want to say. My main job is to go onto the court and play. I have no control over what the fans do in the stands. It's fine, as long as they keep it in the stands.'' The sign was probably in response to a chant of "wife-beater'' directed at Nets star Jason Kidd when the series was in Boston for Games 3 and 4. Kidd was charged with striking his wife in January 2001, when he was playing for Phoenix; the charges were dropped when Kidd underwent anger counseling and paid a fine. Joumana Kidd told reporters she was concerned for her safety at the FleetCenter. Jason Kidd said she might not attend Game 6.

In four of the five games of the best-of-seven series, the New Jersey Nets have outscored the Celtics in the first quarter.

The trend has been particularly prevalent recently. In Games 3, 4 and 5, New Jersey outscored Boston by a combined 90-47 -- 28-13, 31-18 and 31-16.

"We've gotten ourselves behind the 8-ball four out of five games and found ourselves having to catch up,'' Celtics coach Jim O'Brien said Thursday. "My advice: See if you can't knock a couple of those down.''

An early measure of whether Game 6 is going the Celtics' way will be the score at the end of the first quarter. If Boston can't find a way to make the Nets play from behind, even the Celtics don't like their chances.

"Everybody is aware of what we need to do in the first quarter. We're just not getting the job done,'' Boston's Paul Pierce said. "I feel good about our chances. Once again, our backs are to the wall. I think this is where we're at our best.''

Pierce may have a point, although there is not a huge body of evidence to support his theory.

The Celtics have faced elimination only once in this postseason, beating Philadelphia 120-87 in Game 5 of their first-round series.

The Nets, on the other hand, have had three chances to knock an opponent out of the playoffs.

After losing Game 4 at Indiana in the first round, the Nets eliminated the Pacers in Game 5. And in Game 5 of the second round against Charlotte, the Nets beat the Hornets 103-95 to win the series 4-1.

"I think we realize anything can happen in Game 7,'' New Jersey's Kenyon Martin said. "You don't want that to happen. We realize we are in the driver's seat. We have control. We want to seize the moment.''

This series might already be over if the Nets had taken care of business in Game 3.

New Jersey held a 21-point lead after three periods, only to allow the Celtics to pull off the biggest fourth-quarter comeback in NBA playoff history.

In hindsight, according to coach Byron Scott, that unfathomable loss was the best thing that could have happened to the Nets. Following their victory in Game 5, Scott went so far as to call it a "defining moment'' for the franchise.

Not many teams would want their defining moment to be a blown lead of historic proportions, although with the Nets it may just suffice.

Since the ABA-NBA merger 26 years ago, the defining moment for the Nets might have been the sale of Julius Erving to the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Nets, who then played in New York, sold Erving to raise enough money to pay indemnity fees to the Knicks. They were the reigning ABA champs when the merger happened, but they haven't come anywhere close to winning a title since.

This is New Jersey's first appearance in an NBA conference finals, and a victory in Game 6 or Game 7 would give the Nets an opportunity to hang a new banner alongside the six old ones -- two ABA titles and four retired numbers -- in the rafters at Continental Airlines Arena.

"One more win and we get to the NBA Finals,'' forward Keith Van Horn said. "Just that should be incentive enough for us to treat it as the most important game of our lives. We have to realize if we win that game, we are going to be in a place none of us expected to be in.''

As this series has evolved, the Nets have shown themselves to be the deeper and more talented team.

New Jersey prefers to run, but has been able to execute its halfcourt offense when needed. When Boston has packed its defense into the middle, the Nets have been able to beat them from the outside with jump shots.

Kerry Kittles has led the team in scoring the past three games, and Van Horn has come back from a slow start to average 20 points in the past two.

With Jason Kidd a threat to produce a triple-double every game, and with reserves Lucious Harris and Aaron Williams making solid contributions, there have been too many factors for the Celtics to contend with -- especially when getting little on offense from anyone other than Pierce and Antoine Walker.

Also, the Celtics have expended too much energy playing catch-up. Aside from Game 2, they have trailed by large margins in every game.

"We've got to come out and fight like wolves,'' guard Kenny Anderson said. "I'm not going to be loquacious about it, or whatever. We've just got to play like this is last call.

"We've got to take care of business, or we're on vacation for the summer.''