Ainge Is Back to Celtic Roots

Danny Ainge is returning to the Boston Celtics as the team’s head of basketball operations.

“I’ve always liked a challenge, and this is a real challenge. If it was easy, anybody could do the job,” Ainge told reporters during an afternoon news conference.

Red Auerbach, the team president, called Ainge a hard worker who in the moments before Friday’s news conference was excitedly talking about what he wanted to do with the team.

Ainge, 44, has been an NBA television analyst this season for TNT. The former guard played for the Celtics from 1981 to ’89 and was on championship teams in 1984 and 1986.

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Detroit Piston point guard Chauncey Billups might sit out his second straight game of the Eastern Conference semifinals because of a sprained left ankle. The Pistons will not know whether Billups is able to play against Philadelphia tonight until just before game time. Detroit leads the series, 2-0.... Alonzo Mourning was cleared by doctors to return to the NBA next season for another comeback from kidney disease. Mourning will become a free agent July 1.