NBA: After falling short, Celtics face uncertainty

Doc Rivers is headed from pro basketball to the amateur game, and he may not be coming back.

Ray Allen could end up elsewhere and Rasheed Wallace appears gone for sure.

Although Kevin Garnett would like to have everybody back, next season's Boston Celtics could look quite different from the team that nearly won the 2010 NBA championship.

The Celtics fell short of their second title in three years, blowing a 13-point lead and losing 83-79 to the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday in Game 7 of the NBA finals. Tears flowed in the locker room and Rivers struggled with his emotions in his press conference after the Celtics watched an 18th championship slip through their fingers.

"It's a difficult time right now," Garnett said.

It won't get much easier in the summer, when tough decisions must be made.

Rivers, who did a masterful job managing the minutes of Garnett, Allen and Paul Pierce late in the season — even when it meant losing games — has talked of walking away from coaching so he can spend more time with his children.

He'll take his time before deciding.

"I'm going to wait," he said. "I'm going to go and watch my kids play AAU basketball, and I'm going to wait for a little bit."

Allen will be a free agent and could draw interest if he's willing to accept a significant pay cut from the more than $19 million he made this season. The Celtics considered trading him during the season, but they'll be given the chance to keep him now if they want him.

"I'll deal with that when the time comes, but it's obvious that I don't want to be anywhere else," Allen said.

The Celtics already are faced with one major loss. Assistant coach Tom Thibodeau, the architect of their terrific defense, is leaving to become the Chicago Bulls' coach.

Rivers said after Game 7 that Wallace could retire, which Garnett seemed to confirm in his postgame remarks.

Despite a brilliant start to the season, it appeared the Celtics would have to face these decisions much earlier. They were a .500 team over the second half of the season, with injuries to Garnett and Pierce a demonstration of the risks involved in relying on older players.