ORONTO - Five hours before tipoff, coach Jim O'Brien called the Celtics together for a meeting. It was more about attitude and expectations than strategy.

''Don't settle for being 3-2 on the road and thinking that this was a good trip, because it won't be,'' said O'Brien. ''We want to win out.''

At the end of a five-game, nine-day road trip, in the second of back-to-back games, the third game in four nights, there were plenty of available excuses. O'Brien would not accept any of them