BOSTON (AP) – Cedric Maxwell, the offensive rebounder and comedian of two Boston Celtics’ championship teams, finally had his number added Monday night to the 21 that already had been retired by the team.

His No. 31 was raised to the rafters at halftime of the Celtics’ 116-95 loss to Minnesota.

“Paul Pierce was joking around with me and told me that his jersey would probably be retired before mine,” Maxwell told the crowd. “Well, too late now, Paul.”

Pierce laughed on the Celtics bench. And Maxwell cracked up a few times as team president Red Auerbach spoke.

“This is unbelievable,” Auerbach said.

“I don’t know what goes through the board of directors and the owners, making such a beautiful ceremony for Max. He wasn’t that good.”

Then he turned serious and praised Maxwell, who spent eight years with Boston after being taken with the 12th pick of the 1977 draft out of North Carolina-Charlotte.

“Everybody liked him,” Auerbach said. “He was always smiling and he was a great offensive rebounder.”

After the 1984-85 season, the 6-foot-8 Maxwell was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers with a first-round draft choice for Bill Walton. He spent one season there and retired after two more seasons with Houston.

For Boston, he averaged 13.7 points and 6.6 rebounds and led the NBA in field goal percentage in 1979 and 1980. For his career, he averaged 12.5 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. He also was the MVP of the 1981 NBA finals won by Boston.

Among those attending the ceremony were former teammates Kevin McHale, Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge. Larry Bird sent remarks, read by master of ceremonies Tom Heinsohn, that said, “Every time you told your teammates to climb on your back, you always came through for us.”

He told that to his teammates before Game 7 of the NBA championship series in 1984 against the Los Angeles Lakers. In that game, he had 24 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in a 111-102 win for Boston’s 15th NBA title.

Four members of that team – Bird, McHale, Johnson and Robert Parish – already have had their numbers retired by the Celtics. One number, 18, has been retired for Dave Cowens and Jim Loscutoff.

As he closed his remarks, Maxwell looked to the rafters, where the banners of the retired numbers hang, and talked of a basketball shrine less than two hours west of Boston.

“No offense to my good friends in Springfield, Mass.,” he said, “but the Hall of Fame is right here.”

His number was retired on a night when Boston obtained Ricky Davis in a six-player trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Ainge, Boston’s executive director of basketball operations, was booed when he was introduced at the ceremony. He discussed the deal before the game.

“I don’t want to spend too much time because I really don’t want to take away from Max’s night,” he said.

Others attending the ceremony were former Celtics players Gerald Henderson and former coaches K.C. Jones, Chris Ford and M.L. Carr.

AP-ES-12-15-03 2157EST