Pierce: 'I think the knee is going to be fine'

After spraining his left knee in Sunday morning's shootaround and aggravating it during the Celtics' 101-79 blowout win over the Hawks in Game 4 hours later at the Garden, Paul Pierce said he's hoping to be ready for Game 5 on Tuesday in Atlanta. 

"I kind of sprained it [Sunday] morning and then I aggravated it in the game," said Pierce, who led the Celtics with 24 points in just over 16 minutes of game time. "I'm glad we were able to get a win like this to give me some rest, give me a couple of days off and get some treatment, and hope it feels good on Tuesday."

Realizing fans would be concerned about his status for Game 5 on Tuesday in Atlanta, Pierce tweeted after the game, I think the knee is going to be fine glad I didn't have to play a lot of minutes tonight to rest it good win tonight fellas. 

Pierce was red-hot before and after running into Josh Smith on a screen late in the second quarter. He made 10 of his 13 shots in the win. 

“I kind of tripped over someone’s foot," Pierce said. "I had to sit around the last half of shootaround, and tonight I just kind of reaggravated it when I came up off the screen with Josh Smith right there. It’s a little bit sore right now, so Doc [Rivers] just wanted to take precautions tonight especially when we had such a big lead. I got some rest for the next game. You don’t want to really sit down or let it get stiff. That’s why I went over and got on the bike there when I got out of the game. If it had stiffened up on me. I probably wouldn’t have had a chance to come back.

"It's sore, tender. I'm just going to ice it."

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