By RICK NOLAND
Assistant Sports Editor
INDEPENDENCE — The Boston Celtics know as well as anyone that they’re 0-5 on the road in the playoffs.
They’re intent on changing that and wrapping up their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Cavaliers by winning Game 6 tonight at 8 at Quicken Loans Arena.
Of course, should they lose, they also know Game 7 will be Sunday at 3:30 p.m. at TD Banknorth Garden, where they are 7-0 in the postseason and 42-6 overall.
“We know what we want to do for Game 6 and we know what we have to do in Game 6,” said backup big man Glen Davis, who supplied six points in Game 5 in his first significant action of the series. “It’s all about going out there and doing it.”
In losing their first two games at The Q in the series, the Celtics averaged just 80.5 points. They trailed by 26 points in the second quarter of Game 3 and scored just 12 points in the decisive fourth quarter of Game 4.
“Close-out games are always the hardest,” veteran Boston guard Ray Allen said. “The team (that is down 3-2) is going to fight and the building is going to be behind them. You just have to go in there and do the small things and the overall big thing of being aggressive with that defensive energy.”
Since the Celtics earned home-court advantage throughout the playoffs by virtue of their NBA-best 66-16 regular-season record, it’s conceivable they could win a championship without winning on the road, but they don’t want it to come to that.
“We are going to have to get one on the road eventually to get the monkey off our back,” backup big man Leon Powe said. “We want people to stop asking us about it and stop seeing it on TV.”

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BIG TICKET: Celtics power forward Kevin Garnett, one of the most intense competitors in the league, showed why he was a first-team All-NBA selection by scoring 26 points and grabbing 16 rebounds in Game 5. “He’s nuts, and that is a good thing,” Boston coach Doc Rivers said. “I mean, he cares so much, sometimes maybe too much, if that’s possible. I didn’t need to talk to him before the game. I trusted he would do enough talking to himself.” Garnett, who was 12-of-19 from the field, also had four assists and three blocks in 41 minutes. “Kevin is so hard on himself,” said Paul Pierce, who broke out of a shooting slump to lead the Celtics with 29 points in Game 5. “He pushes himself to the limit. … I think he takes losses just as hard or even harder than anybody in the locker room. You see it on his face and you can feel it when you’re around him. You knew he was going to come out with that spirit from the jump.”
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TIP-INS: The shooting percentage of Cavaliers small forward LeBron James climbed to 31.1 for the series after a 12-of-25 night in Game 5, but he missed nine of his last 13 shots. James is now averaging 22.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 8.2 assists. He’s committed 27 turnovers, which is 13 more than anyone else in the series (Pierce). … Boston center Kendrick Perkins has been virtually no factor in the series. He’s averaging just 4.4 points and could spend a lot of time on the bench tonight in favor of P.J. Brown and Davis.
Noland may be reached at rickn@ohio.net or 330-721-4061.

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