Though he is eligible to declare free agency the season after next and still hasn't accepted the Bucks' offer for a contract extension, point guard Sam Cassell made one thing clear Tuesday:

He wants to remain in Milwaukee.

"My intentions are definitely to stay here," Cassell said. "I've never said (I want to leave)."

Cassell said he is ready to accept a three-year extension worth about $17 million that would carry him through the 2005-'06 season, when he will be 36 years old and presumably nearing the end of his career.

The only holdup now, Cassell said, is financial details.

"We've got to get certain things that I want," he said. "There are certain things I've got to have. I want everything that Sam Cassell deserves under the collective-bargaining agreement.

"I'm done with it. When my representative says it's time, it's time. When I get everything I need, it will be that simple."

MILWAUKEE - Oh, what a tight and intense game the Celtics and Bucks engaged in last night. For 25 minutes.

At that point, Milwaukee fired its retro rockets and blew out the Bostonian windows on the way to a 109-90 reminder of how far the Celts still have to go. It was the Celtics' sixth straight loss here.

Adding injury to insult, Paul Pierce aggravated his sore left wrist in the fourth quarter and spent the last 8:51 on the sideline.

ILWAUKEE - The best description of the third quarter came from Kenny Anderson. ''It was a blur,'' he said.

Then he provided a play-by-play that sounded more like something out of a comic book than an NBA game:

''Pow. Pow. Bam. Pow. Bam. We're down 10. Pow. Bam. Pow. Damn. We're down 20.''

But none of the Celtics were laughing. They didn't even smile from the time the second half began until they left Bradley Center. The starters were on the bench for the last minutes of the fourth quarter, watching the Milwaukee Bucks complete their 109-90 rout last night.

With Ray Allen in the National Basketball Association All-Star Game, one thing is certain:

He has never met a shot he didn't like.

That was the case in the last two All-Star Games, when the rapid-fire Milwaukee Bucks guard hoisted up 28 shots in 36 minutes. Allen promised more of the same after being named Tuesday as one of the Eastern Conference reserves for the 2001-'02 game, which will be played Feb. 10 in Philadelphia.

"I don't think anybody on my team should shoot more than I shoot," Allen said Tuesday night before the Bucks' game against the Boston Celtics at the Bradley Center. "I won't be starting but when I get in there, I'll go out and do what I'm capable of doing."

Allen, who was named to play in the All-Star Game for the third straight year, will be joined on the East bench by centers Alonzo Mourning of Miami and Jermaine O'Neal of Indiana, guards Jason Kidd of New Jersey, Paul Pierce of Boston and Tracy McGrady of Orlando and forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim of Atlanta.

Never at a loss for ways to beat the Boston Celtics at home, the Milwaukee Bucks chose to use their 14-foot secret weapon Tuesday night.

Any time the 6-foot-11 Ervin Johnson leads them in scoring at halftime, and the 7-1 Joel Przybilla blocks three shots in 16 minutes and doesn't miss a field goal attempt, the Bucks are likely not only to beat their opponents but to send them into catatonic shock.

The Celtics did look dazed as they lost their sixth straight here while the Bucks were braking a three-game slide at the Bradley Center. The 14 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks that Milwaukee got from the center position may not have been decisive, but they were as timely as they were welcome.

Somewhere back when Kevin McHale tried to shut up a Bucks fan by hiking the knot of the fan's tie a few inches, back when Don Nelson and Danny Ainge, with help from Red Auerbach, exchanged insults about the other's testosterone levels, the Milwaukee Bucks' second-best rival was the Boston Celtics.

Philadelphia wins the top spot in that category because the frequency of a Bucks-76ers playoff series and because of Charles Barkley.

But, at times, there seemed to be more hostility and unapologetic hate with Bucks-Celtics than with Bucks-76ers. In the end, the Bucks wound up losing more than winning those series against both teams.

But the Celtics are back, or at least the standings say they are.

They will have to make the playoffs for that rivalry to come back as well. Otherwise, it will remain dormant, no matter how often they play or how good they are in the regular season.

Judging from his season-high 38-point performance off the bench Saturday in his first time back from a 14-game injury absence, Glenn Robinson appeared more than ready to resume his familiar role tonight as the Milwaukee Bucks' starting small forward.

That, however, was before Robinson rolled his right ankle Monday during practice.

Though the Bucks do not think Robinson's latest injury is anything more than a minor inconvenience, he nevertheless will not be able to start against the Boston Celtics.

Tim Thomas, who started every game for Robinson while he recovered from a thigh bruise, will start again despite bruising his right knee Saturday in the 129-127 double-overtime loss to New York. Thomas made it through the entire practice Monday and was deemed ready to play by coach George Karl.

Because of their recent success, the Milwaukee Bucks have sent two players, Ray Allen and Glenn Robinson, to the All-Star Game the past two seasons.

Although the team is still positioned well, the Bucks are expected to get no more than one Eastern Conference representative when all-star reserves are announced today.

Allen is expected to make the East squad for the third consecutive season, but Robinson, who has missed 15 of the 42 games, probably won't get the call.

Bucks coach George Karl, who wonders if any of his players will make the all-star team this year, is pulling for one in particular: Point guard Sam Cassell, who has never made the all-star team despite putting up impressive numbers during his time with the Bucks.

Though mired in their third extended losing streak of the season, coach George Karl said he believes the Milwaukee Bucks remain in relatively good standing in the days leading to the all-star break.

Comfortably atop the Central Division despite a three-game losing streak, the Bucks have three showdown games this week against Eastern Conference challengers from the Atlantic Division.

Tuesday they play the surprising Boston Celtics before going Thursday to New Jersey, which leads the conference. And on Saturday, the Bucks return home to face Philadelphia for the first time at the Bradley Center since the Eastern Conference finals last year.

All three are what Karl calls statement games, the kind the Bucks need to win in order to establish favorable positioning in the conference before the break begins on Feb. 8.

In a purely hypothetical piece, Chicago Tribune writer Sam Smith explores deals that, while not being chased by teams' respective managements, all make sense.

In Dallas the Mavericks are 12-1 since All-Star Michael Finley went down injured, and coach Don Nelson loves the play of Adrian Griffin.  Utah Jazz future hall of famer Karl Malone is anything but immune to trade talk, often sparking it himself.  Would the teams bite on a Finley and Shawn Bradley for Malone trade?

As has been mentioned so many times in the past, have the Los Angeles Clippers soured on Lamar Odom?  The versatile forward is injured once again, and while he is averaging a career low 13.1 points per contest the team is high on Elton Brand, the power forward taken first overall in the same draft.  Both are up for extensions, Michael Olowokandi will be a free agent before them, and then Darius Miles and Quentin Richardson are up for their pay day.  Something has to give for the league's cheapest owner by reputation.

Finally Smith notes that Milwaukee playing Tim Thomas off the bench cannot be a viable solution for the Bucks, and it is starting to cost them games.  In their double overtime loss to the Knicks their height, or lack thereof, was exposed.  With enough scoring already would the combination of Dale Davis and Bonzi Wells from Portland be enticing enough?