Foul trouble plagues KG

Ever since the Celtics staged their tribute to sleep-walking in the fourth quarter of Game 1, they stressed their laundry list of "to-do" items for the second game. There were usual goodies like "Try not to give the basketball to the Knicks a lot." But also high on the list, as it was before the series, was get Kevin Garnett involved.

Tuesday night, they tried again. Last night, they failed again.

The chief problem was foul trouble, which didn't sit all that well with the Celtics. Just 3:21 into the game, Garnett had two fouls and was on the bench. By halftime, he had three fouls — and less than 10 full minutes of playing time.

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"At times it's frustrating. Fouls are part of the game," said Garnett, who followed up his eight-point Game 1 cameo, with a 12-point, nine-shot, 24-minute walk-on last night. "The refs are calling things. It's an aggressive time in postseason play. Just got to be consistent and continue to put the onus on the refs and position myself not to foul so much."

And just got to score lots more points. As Garnett said, "They haven't scored 90 points yet. ... We can defend this team."

Something that has become sort of a problem for Boston is they haven't scored 80 yet. In Tuesday night's 87-71 defeat, they managed 23 points after halftime.

Of course, it's kind of hard when they're playing the series without Rajon Rondo and then their main inside force in negated.

"The fouls on Kevin, first of all they were horrendous and second they had a huge effect," coach Doc Rivers said after his Celtics staged their collapse in the third quarter instead of the fourth as in Game 1.

"Kevin had three fouls that...," Rivers added leaving the thought unfinished. "Him not being on the floor, playing 24 minutes and never getting in a rhythm when it looked like he was going to have a good game, hurt us. I thought if it could have gone either way on those [three], they all went at Kevin."

So the Celtics were left to once again vow they will get Garnett involved and resuscitate an offense that looks deader than Neanderthals.

"At times, it's frustrating," Garnett said. "Fouls are part of the game. The refs are calling things. It's an aggressive time in postseason play. Just got to be consistent and continue to put the onus on the refs and position myself not to foul so much."

As the Knicks were turning a threatened rout into reality in the third quarter, Rivers had no choice but to reinsert Garnett with four fouls with 5:00 left and the Celtics down 12 (when he left the game, Boston was down four). Garnett's fifth foul came on an offensive foul at 6:28 of the fourth when the Celtics' pulse was barely beating, down 13.

"Everything we do runs around getting the ball to Kevin inside and working from there," Paul Pierce said. "So when he gets in foul trouble we have to find ways to make adjustments."

In Game 2, they didn't.

fred.kerber@nypost.com