Thanksgiving. A time for quiet reflection and true reverence. A time for taking stock and, well, giving thanks. A time for...

	Offense is fine, but the defense that Celtic stars like Paul Pierce play has been lacking.

Teams to blow a gasket.

Boston's Rick Pitino and Seattle's Paul Westphal have that joint look of two guys nearing the end of their collective ropes. Both are on, shall we say, thin ice. Pitino's Celtics were 4-6 entering play on Wednesday, coming off consecutive drubbings at the hands of the first-place Sixers and last-place Wizards. Westphal's Sonics were 5-7 and in danger of losing contact in the hypercompetitive Pacific Division. (They're only a game ahead of the Clippers, for Olowokandi's Sake!)

Pitino popped first. In the locker room after Monday night's 24-point home loss to Philly, he went Hamlet again. He was crying. According to watching eyes, he said, "maybe I should just quit. You all just don't listen." Veterans who had heard this time and time again over the last couple of seasons (more than 20, according to a recently departed Beantowner) were skeptical. They didn't take Pitino seriously. They were laughing about it afterward -- one saying, "Rick's talking that (bleep) again." And Pitino didn't say anything at practice Tuesday, leaving people to believe the matter was over.

"I never said it," Pitino told me by phone on Wednesday. "What I told the team was this. It was the same thing I said last year. I'm not blowing up the team. This is my team. I put it together. If we don't get it done, then I'll suggest we go in a different direction. And I told them, 'if we continue to let teams shoot 50 percent (Boston was third from the bottom in the league in both field goal percentage allowed, .462, and points allowed, 98.9, entering play Wednesday), there's a good chance you'll have another coach.

"We have great chemistry here, the best I've had since I've been here. This is a great group. But teams don't do it on offense; they do it on defense. I'd like to score 120 points, but you don't win that way. If it doesn't improve, I'll have to go to the owner and say 'this time next year, you'll have to make a change.'"

Pitino said he's looking for "marked improvement in the basketball team, especially at the defensive end. I'm looking for us to come together defensively, turn people over, make it difficult to score. And certain nights, we'll improve. We held (the Sixers) to 35 percent shooting up there. You can't let them come into your building and, because you're not playing well offensively, let them shoot 50 percent ... they're working real hard. We're down 22 to Toronto and come back to win. We're down 18 to Cleveland and come back and have a real shot to win. But you can't do it that way in the NBA. You do it with consistent, New York Knicks-type defense."

Pitino wants to see his players dig, help out, box out, keep people out of the lane. Defense 101 stuff. He wants it now because the Celtics have a bunch of home games early in the season. "It's a death march in February," Pitino says of a seven-game Western swing that goes to Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Utah, Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.

And he's most disappointed in his veterans. Specifically, again, Antoine Walker, Paul Pierce, Tony Battie.

	Pierce

	Walker

"The new guys like (Bryant) Stith and Randy Brown, they're the best," Pitino said. "It's the young guys that aren't, defensively, getting the job done, the Tony Batties and people like that. Not to single him out. We've got some really young, talented offensive players. Walker and Pierce are two of the most talented scorers in the league. But if they score 20 and the opposing guys on the wings score 22 and 18, we're plus two and minus two and that's not good enough. It has to be a team thing. We don't have a Theo Ratliff and we don't have a George Lynch. We don't have a (Eric) Snow. It has to be a team thing. Getting into somebody and saying 'I'm gonna shut you down tonight,' that's not Antoine Walker's thing, or (Chris) Herren's thing. It has to be a team thing."

All of which leads to the only question that matters: if you had to bet a dollar, Rick, will you be back next season?

"To answer it honestly, I'd love to be back," he said. "But from the standards I'm putting forth, I really don't know. I have great, great passion for basketball. I don't ever want to leave the game from a teaching standpoint. I don't want to be a commentator. I don't want to be president ... but if we can't meet the standards I've set, I don't know."

Pitino said he would, if asked, give "a year, max" to staying on with the Celtics only as president. "But that's not my thing," he said. "My thing is coaching. I absolutely love coaching, love teaching. And contrary to what people believe, I love the pro level."

With Mr. Ricky, who knows?

Then there's Messrs. Gary Payton and Westphal. The background: last week, in Seattle, the Mavericks erased a 17-point deficit by going small, with a multi-guard lineup, and beat the Sonics down the stretch. Flash forward to Tuesday, when the same thing started happening: after Seattle hit 16 of 17 second-quarter shots to build a 14-point halftime lead, the Mavs went small, and began taking huge chunks out of the Sonics edge. Westphal opted to match Dallas with his own small lineup, playing Payton, Ruben Patterson, Emanual Davis along with Rashard Lewis and rookie center Ruben Wolkowyski.

	Payton

With 8:31 to go, Seattle's lead was down to 96-93 when time was called. During the huddle, according to numerous sources, Payton asked -- strongly -- for Westphal to put Patrick Ewing and Vin Baker back into the game and stop playing small.

What happened next is, right now, in dispute. A source close to Payton claims that Westphal said "shut up. You play; I'll coach." But Westphal (who did not return calls seeking comment) has told others that he denied saying "shut up," though copping to the rest of it. Two people in the huddle claim they did not hear Westphal say "shut up." Nonetheless, Payton believes he heard it. And he went ballistic, having to be restrained by players David Wingate and Pervis Ellison and assistant coach Nate McMillan.

"From this standpoint, I tend to believe Paul, because he's incapable of stretching the truth," Sonics GM Wally Walker said Wednesday from Maui, where he's scouting the Maui Classic. "I do believe that Paul told him 'you play, I'll coach, and let's get it going.' But my opinion is that that (the 'shut up' claim) was a very minor aside."

After Payton calmed down, he went back on the floor at the conclusion of the timeout. But Westphal had already decided to replace him with rookie guard Desmond Mason. Payton didn't know it, and for a few seconds, the Sonics had six players on the court. Once Payton realized he was out, he "looked around for a long time. A long time," according to a witness, and then returned to the bench.

Westphal put Payton back in about three minutes later, and Payton hit the tie-breaking basket down the stretch to lead Seattle to the 116-110 win. And that would have been that, except that GP mouthed off to the local papers afterward. Once he vented, he was fine with teammates later on.

Westphal and his coaches weren't. Neither was Walker, who was up before dawn in Hawaii to inform Payton of his indefinite suspension -- which was later rescinded.

"Gary was wrong," Walker said Wednesday.

Payton was supposed to issue a statement Wednesday evening, according to his agent, Aaron Goodwin, in which he accepted responsibility for the incident. But the bigger question is whether the Sonics have to cut bait between their star player and their head coach. Incidents like these don't occur in a vacuum. This isn't the first time the Sonics have had to suspend their best player.

If Payton keeps erupting, he may make it harder for Seattle to trade him. His value will go south. There are already whispers that his on-ball defense isn't what it once was. GP, if you're with me, you'll keep quiet for a while. It's the best way out of town.