After getting run over in the opening two games in New Jersey, the Celtics are choking in the wake of the dust raised by the Nets fast break. Can the Celtics be resurrected on their home court, or are they already road-kill?

It says here that Boston can, indeed, rise up and entangle the Nets -- if they can radicalize their game plan thusly:

1. Get better shots for Paul Pierce
The Nets are so athletic and so quick to help in the middle that even when Pierce posts up, he's been unable to spin into the paint and find an acceptable shot. The same dynamic holds when Pierce works off a high screen/roll and tries to penetrate the middle. Sure, the Celts are using Pierce to draw a crowd and then deliver the ball to an open teammate. But according to the Nets' scouting report, he passes to his right much better than to his left, and the New Jersey defense can rotate accordingly. So far, PP has recorded 19 assists and 14 turnovers, totals that manage to keep both teams in the game.

Isos at the foul line extended left have worked for Boston. The Celtics might also consider having Pierce run off more double-, staggered-, and cross-grain screens -- anything to get him in catch-and-shoot scenarios.

And yet, as celebrated an offensive force as Pierce is, several players around the league have serious questions about his heart. "Yeah," says one young veteran, "I know the numbers say that Pierce is one of the best fourth-quarter scorers ever. But not against the Nets in the playoffs. Look at what he did in the fourth quarters of the last three playoff games against New Jersey last season. Nada. And what has he done in the fourth quarters of Games 1 and 2 in this series? More nada. The inescapable truth is that Pierce is melting down in the clutch."

Another well-seasoned player says this: "Boston relies on Pierce to finish games for them, but he can't do it unless the refs bail him out and put him on the line."

	Employee No. 8 has yet to punch in offensively.

2. Get Antoine Walker going
The numbers tell the horror story: A combined 9-for-35 from the field, 2-for-4 from the foul line, 8 assists, and 7 turnovers. Kenyon Martin is just too quick, too strong and long, too aggressive and downright too mean-spirited for Walker to overcome.

Post-ups aren't beneficial because Walker has no lift, and because of the Nets' quick hands in the middle. To cap off his shooting woes, Walker is only 1-for-8 from beyond the arc.

What to do?

Forget about establishing Walker as a go-to scorer. Instead, utilize his considerable passing skills by moving him just above the 3-point line and making him the designated ball-reverser -- the point forward. If open shots present themselves, then let him fire away. If driving lanes open up, then let him plunge into the paint and look to kick out assist passes to open teammates.

3. Limit Walter McCarty's touches
Put this guy along the baseline in one corner or the other and find him whenever the Nets' defense contracts around ball penetration. From either corner, McCarty's shot-put 3-balls are deadly. From anywhere else, they're made of lead.

4. Post up Eric Williams more often
At 6-foot-8, 220 pounds, Williams is big, strong, quick, and tricky enough to successfully post up Jason Collins, the Nets' 6-11 center. Simply put, he needs the low-post touches that Walker was getting.

5. Be prepared for New Jersey's full-court traps
The Nets' first unleashed a full-court press with 6:10 remaining in the third quarter of Game 2. The result was a turnover that the Nets ran into a dunk for Richard Jefferson. Subsequently, two more activations of the press yielded another pair of turnovers. When faced with such sudden and unexpected pressure, the Celtics seem totally surprised and disorganized.

	As long as the Celtics play into the Nets' trap, they will be going home early.

6. Be better prepared for New Jersey's zone defense
The Nets have been employing this defense all season long as a means of changing the tempo of any given game. "We don't even know how to describe what our zone is," says Kerry Kittles. "I'd guess it's some kind of match-up."

A match-up initially presents a zone formation (usually a 2-3 or 3-2), but the defenders are required to guard whichever players are in their particular area with the same zeal and technique as they'd do in a man-to-man defense. When faced with any kind of zone alignment, offenses usually pull the ball out and initiate their zone offense. In the Celtics' case, this consists of various generic anti-zone movements -- overloading one side and then quickly reversing the ball; a guard trying to split the seam then locating an open teammate; players cutting through the middle or along the baseline; a big man flashing up to the foul line; rushing the ball across the time line and running an "early offense" before the zone can get set.

However, the Nets' zone in the fourth quarter of Game 1 was the one strategy that turned that game in their favor. (Because New Jersey controlled most of Game 2, the Nets only showed zone once or twice.)

But here's the thing. A match-up zone is essentially a switching, helping, man-to-man defense. Teams err when they try to combat match-ups with their relatively static zone offenses. Instead, they're advised to work their standard man-to-man offensive patterns.

7. Take the air out of the ball
Unless they have a clear breakaway, the Celtics would best be served by walking the ball into the attack zone. Since the Nets are by far the more athletic of the two teams, Boston should force them to play defense for at least 20 seconds on every possession. This would put the Nets' players back on their heels and, at the same time, make them overanxious to get out and running -- which hopefully would impel them to take unnecessary defensive risks.

	Kidd's ability to penetrate has frozen the Celtics defense.

Patience and discipline should be the Celtics' by-words. And instead of throwing predictable A-to-B passes, a few ball fakes would also be useful.

8. Play some zones
This would serve to slow the pace, diminish Jason Kidd's penetrations, and negate Martin's interior domination of Walker. Since the Nets' perimeter shooting is erratic, the Celts's zones could key on Kittles and Lucious Harris.

9. Put two-timing pressure on Kidd's substitute
In his limited on-court time, Anthony Johnson has proved to be a terrific back-up point guard who could start for several NBA clubs. However, he isn't Jason Kidd. Why not squeeze Johnson and see what happens?

10. Continue to attack Rodney Rogers
Whatever the match-ups, the Celts have been going right at Rogers (who plays defense as though his sneakers were nailed to the floor). Rogers is so sloooow that he usually plays defense with his hands in his pockets and can't even get close enough to the shooter to throw a hand at the ball.

11. Suppplicate and invoke the Garden Gremlins
And buy a big Cuban cigar for Red Auerbach.

Charley Rosen, a former coach in the Continental Basketball Association, has been intimately involved with basketball for the better part of five decades -- as a writer, a player, a coach and a passionate fan. Rosen's books include "More Than a Game," "The Cockroach Basketball League," "The Wizard of Odds: How Jack Molinas Almost Destroyed the Game of Basketball," "Scandals of '51: How the Gamblers Almost Killed College Basketball" and "The House of Moses All-Stars: A Novel."