"Jermaine O'Neal has decided to delay surgery on his left knee until the offseason, though the Celtics center still is expected to miss a month before his next game.

The procedure, described last night by Danny Ainge as a "cleaning out" to ease the pain caused by bone-on-bone friction in the knee, would have kept O'Neal out approximately eight weeks. As Doc Rivers already has noted, that would have rendered O'Neal virtually useless for the playoffs.

"The purpose is to get him ready to play in late-season and postseason play, with no restrictions," Ainge said of what he hopes will be the result of resting O'Neal for the next four weeks. "The purpose is to get him back 100 percent."

O'Neal received a second opinion from a doctor in New York on Monday and met with Ainge and the Celtics medical staff at halftime of last night's 86-82 win against Detroit. Though he missed 19 straight games earlier this season with the same problem, the hope now is that he will return in sturdier form.

"I think Jermaine feels that he overdid it a little bit," Ainge said. "He's got some bruising from the bone-on-bone in his knee. He just needs to let that calm down and build up the strength in it. ... I think Jermaine has a plan to get himself in great shape and build the strength up so he'll be able to withstand the rigors of playing the last couple of months of basketball." ...

Count Marquis Daniels as the latest casualty. He left with a turned ankle in the second quarter and didn't return."