Good timing. After all, a year ago, even Ainge was losing his luster. Media were predicting he would soon be fired. But just as he did 27 years ago, when he took the ball court-length to give BYU a win over Notre Dame in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, he figured out a way to get to the rim. In the off-season he talked golfing pal and former teammate McHale, his counterpart in Minnesota, into trading Garnett for a bushel of unimportant players and future draft picks. A month earlier he had convinced Seattle to send former All-Star Allen to Boston in a trade that involved forward Wally Szczerbiak and guard Delonte West.

That was riskier than the Garnett deal, but probably as important.

In hindsight, the past year makes Ainge look like he pulled a shell game on everyone. Boston went from the second-worst record in the league (24-58) to the best this season (66-16).

Sure, he knew something that afternoon in Salt Lake. He just wasn't saying.

Now he can sit around for the summer and try not to be smug — though heaven knows he has good reason.

As Garnett — who got his first championship thanks to Ainge's trade — howled on ABC-TV immediately after the game, "Anything's possible. Anything's possib-l-l-l-l-le!"

But of course anyone who was around to see Ainge 27 years ago already knew that.

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E-mail: rock@desnews.com