My Daily Inquirer

Paul Pierce loves to talk about the Celtics’ travel plans in the postseason.

Against Miami in the first round, he waved goodbye to South Beach before Game 4 and the Celtics won in five. Against Cleveland in the Conference Semifinals he vowed not to make it back to Quicken Loans Arena for Game 7 and the Celtics won in six. And he winked and waved bye-bye to Magic fans after the Celtics snatched the first two games of the Eastern Conference finals in Orlando, though the Celtics needed six games to win that series.

His latest move came late in a Game 2 win over the Lakers at Staples Center Sunday, when he promised not to return to Los Angeles for Games 6 or 7 of the NBA Finals.

Now the Celtics have to make good on their captain’s bravado. Three games await the Celtics here at TD Garden. Win all three and Pierce is right, there will be no return trip to LA. (We haven’t been here since 2004, when the Lakers and Pistons split the first two and the Pistons polished off the Lakers at the Palace of Auburn Hills.)

And that’s where the pressure kicks in for the home team, because the home team has managed to close out the series on their floor just twice since the 2-3-2 format has been used in the Finals.

“It’ll be tough for us to go home and win three games,” Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo said after that Game 2 win. “It’s possible, but it [will] be very tough with the defending champs … Game 3 is the biggest game so far.”

I’m with Rondo on all counts and so his history. On the 10 occasions since 1985 that the Finals has been tied 1-1, the team that wins Game 3 has gone on to win the title all 10 times.

So all the Lakers have to do is win one game here, same thing the Celtics had to do in LA, and the momentum in this series shifts once again.

I have a hard time seeing either one of these teams winning two straight games against the other, let alone three. And if the Celtics leave here with anything other than a 2-1 split, all the heat that seemed to be on the Lakers after losing home court Sunday suddenly shifts back on Pierce and his crew.

Don’t get me wrong, I love that Pierce tends to back up his tough talk with play that is equally tough. But I fear he might have dipped his toes in deeper water than usual this time. The consensus at HT mobile command is that we still haven’t seen enough from Kevin Garnett to feel good about them doing anything close to dominating these Lakers.

Shoot, we haven’t seen enough from Pierce to ride with his latest prediction.

Had Rondo or Ray Allen said the same things, maybe …

Posted by Jessie James