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BOSTON: Boston Celtics star Paul Pierce expects to play Sunday in
the National Basketball Association finals despite a sore right knee
that he will not have examined until after the title series.
The 30-year-old forward said Friday he is
refusing to have an MRI exam to determine the exact extent of the
injury he suffered in Thursday’s 98-88 Game 1 victory over the Los
Angeles Lakers, even though he risks long-term damage.
“There’s a great chance I will play on
Sunday, just knowing myself, knowing my threshold for pain,”
Pierce said Friday. “Either I can play or if I can’t regardless
of what the MRI says. Just wait until the season is over.”
Pierce was hurt in his NBA finals debut after a
decade of frustration with the Celtics, who have not won the NBA
crown since 1986. The Boston captain refuses to miss the biggest
games of his life despite a sharp pain in his knee.
“It could still be worse that I’m really
putting it off. I’m not planning on getting an MRI until after the
season,” Pierce said. “It could be bad. But right now I’m just
getting treatments and see how I feel on Sunday.”
Losing Pierce for Game 2 Sunday would be a
crippling blow to the Celtics’ hopes of extending their record
number of league crowns to 17 by defeating the archrival Lakers in
the best-of-7 showdown.
“I don’t think he could play today but he
will be ready by Sunday,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “Just
watching him walk you can see it’s tender, it’s stiff. It has
swollen a little bit. No structural damage, which is good news.”
But that is only the opinion of doctors and not
based upon the best exam possible for the first knee injury of
Pierce’s career.
“What is it really going to tell us?” Pierce
said. “With two weeks left, six games to go, we can figure this
out after the season.
“The knee is pretty sore. It’s a little
stiff,” Pierce said. “I most likely wouldn’t be able to play
today. Thank goodness we get a couple days. I’m just going to
evaluate, see how I feel after treatments and Sunday go from
there.”
Pierce was injured in the third quarter when
teammate Kendrick Perkins landed on Pierce foot while both were
trying to defend NBA Most Valuable Player Kobe Bryant, Perkins
injuring his ankle on the play as well.
“With Perk, it’s a high ankle sprain, which
is never good, but he will be ready for Sunday,” Rivers said. “I
expect both of them to play, honestly. I don’t know how much they
can give us yet.
“It helps not playing until Sunday. That gives
them a couple of days to recover.”
Pierce fell to the court writhing in pain and
grabbing his right knee. He was later carried off the court but
returned minutes later and hit two key 3-pointers late in the
quarter to give Boston the lead for good.
“He just gave us energy and we fed off of it,
offensively and defensively,” Celtics standout P.J. Brown said.
“It was huge. It was a great lift,” added Boston guard Rajon
Rondo.
The Celtics kept their poise after Pierce went
down and were able to shut down the Lakers in the final minutes
despite Kevin Garnett missing nine shots in a row down the stretch.
Garnett was happy to see Pierce doing well Friday.
“He was bright-eyed normal Paul Pierce like we
are used to seeing coming in,” Garnett said. “He seemed to be
upbeat and normal.”
-- AFP
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