Ray Allen revealed Saturday that he will need offseason surgery to remove bone spurs from his right ankle, the same procedure he underwent in 2007 on both ankles just months before joining the Celtics.

Allen missed the last nine games of the regular season and is questionable for Sunday’s Game 1 of the first-round series against the Hawks. He had a cortisone shot Thursday but said he is only delaying the inevitable.

“I know it’s weak, but I still have pain in it,’’ said Allen. “It feels better. If I could, I would get surgery tomorrow. If it was the beginning of the season, I would have surgery.

“It’s just inevitable, talking to a couple of different doctors.”

Call to glory days

Ubuntu is back. The word emerged as a rallying cry for the Celtics in their 2007-08 championship season and remained a part of their vocabulary until this season, when coach Doc Rivers nixed it.

“We had too many new guys,’’ Rivers said.

So for most of the season, when the Celtics concluded a workout, they met in a huddle with arms raised and hands together, saying, “Celtics’’ in unison. Now, when the hands go up, the chorus is, “ubuntu,’’ as in the previous four seasons.

Ubuntu has African origins and refers to “humaneness,’’ or “sense of solidarity,’’ according to the website isiZulu.net. The Celtics’ adoption of it as a theme coincided with the 2007 arrival of Allen and Kevin Garnett, plus part-time assistant coach Thierry Kita Matungulu, who is from Cape Town.

Ubuntu also describes a way of life in South Africa, an intangible feeling of common cause. Rivers believes the Celtics’ newcomers are now getting it. And Garnett has been advocating for its revival.

“Kevin understands it best,’’ said Rivers. “He’s the one who was pitching for it all year. And I told him no, I wouldn’t allow it. I didn’t think we were there yet - until about a month ago.’’

Keeping it close