Time to C’s another day

It was one of the great scenes in one of the great sports movies of all time.

Toward the end of the original “The Longest Yard,” Burt Reynolds is faking an ankle injury and allowing the guards to beat up on the inmates because Eddie Albert, the evil warden, threatened him with more prison time.

Paul Crewe, the character played perfectly by Reynolds and butchered years later by Adam Sandler, is contemplating his cowardly decision when he asks the advice of Pop, the old trainer tending to his alleged injury. In an earlier scene, we learned that Pop had punched a guard and earned an extra 30 years behind bars, and now Reynolds wanted to know if that one clean shot was worth 30 years of his life?

The old man thinks for a moment, and says, “For me it was.”

An inspired Burt Reynolds laughs and says, “Then give me my damn shoe!” and leads the Mean Machine to the dramatic victory against Ray Nitschke and the rotten guards.

Was it worth it?

It is a question Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers, Wyc Grousbeck and everyone else in the Celtics [team stats] organization will hear a lot in the coming years, and we can only hope they answer as promptly as the old man in the movie. Worth it? Damn right it was worth it.

Smart Celtics fans never, ever will utter the words, “You mean we could have Al Jefferson [stats] right now?”

Smart Celtics fans never will wonder what Jeff Green would have looked like in Celtic green.

Three years ago, smart Celtics fans thought they would die without ever seeing a 17th championship banner. It looked hopeless. Hell, it was hopeless, wasn’t it? To this day, the Celts’ most recent title seems surreal and unimaginable, like Charlie Bucket finding the Golden Ticket.

In the summer of 2007, Ainge took a wrecking ball to the NBA’s most storied franchise, and he did it with one goal in mind: Win a title. To be more precise: Win a title before it all breaks down.

From the moment Kevin Garnett joined Ray Allen, Paul Pierce [stats] and Rivers for the famous Duckboat ride in August of ’07, everyone understood the clock was ticking and the window was closing. The core members of the Celtics were hungry and determined; none even had played in the NBA Finals before they joined forces, but they already had more miles on them than Melanie Griffith.

The title came in Year 1 for the new Big Three, and it was a good thing because it started unraveling just as quickly. You want an exact time and place? Feb. 19 in Utah. Garnett landed awkwardly, and the defending champs began their slow, steady descent from the throne. They started the year 27-2. They finished it with a Game 7 home loss to Orlando.

In the offseason, the Celtics signed free agent Rasheed Wallace and insisted Garnett was healed. They started hot again, beating Orlando on Christmas to move to 23-5, but soon we could see it was just an illusion. A new decade brought a new reality. They are 6-11 since Christmas. The Celts now trail Cleveland, Orlando and Atlanta in the East, and it’s hard to imagine them beating any of the three in the playoffs without home-court advantage.

On Thursday night in Orlando, Fla., the Celtics lost to the Magic when Rashard Lewis drove past Garnett for a layup with 1.3 seconds left. Garnett did not deny Lewis the baseline. Wallace did not bother to help. Even Lewis seemed surprised with how easily he got to the rim.

Two nights later, the cocky young Hawks completed a four-game sweep of the Celtics this season.

Finally, Sunday afternoon, the Celtics [team stats] blew an 11-point lead with 9:17 remaining and lost to the Lakers at the Garden. The Celts were 6-8 in January, and in the 14 games, they were outscored in the fourth quarter 12 times. They are running out of gas, which happens to teams that have four guys who have logged more than 30,000 minutes apiece.

And now the real problem: There is no bye week, no chance for the Celtics to rest their sore and tired legs. Even All-Star weekend won’t help; Garnett and Pierce (along with Rajon Rondo [stats]) will suit up for the East.

The Celtics have played 46 games this season. They have 36 to go, and then the playoffs. They look old and banged-up now. How exactly are they supposed to get young and spunky while grinding out the last three months of the season?

Answer: They can’t. They won’t. Not this time. They’ve had a nice run, but now it looks more like a limp.

When his team takes the field each week, Indianapolis Colts coach Jim Caldwell tells his players to be the hunter not the hunted. There is no doubt about these Celtics: They were the hunters for a while, but no more. They are the hunted now, and the rest of the league is moving in for the kill.

It had to happen sometime. Ainge put this team together for a good time not a long time, and now that time has passed. The window is just about closed. Time for Danny to blow it up and start over again.