After turning his ankle late in the first quarter on a layup, Paul Pierce left Tuesday night's blowout win against Cleveland with just over three minutes left to get some extra treatment.
Pierce scored 17 of his game-high 24 points in the first quarter but then scored just seven points in the second and was scoreless in the second half as he played only 24 minutes before leaving for the locker room. Afterward, Pierce said he doesn't anticipate the injury to keep him from playing Thursday night in Portland as the Celtics open a four-game West Coast road trip.
“I just tweaked it a little bit, that’s why I left to the trainers a little early and get a little treatment," Pierce said. "I don’t think it should be anything serious, I should be fine.”
Coach Doc Rivers joked that he didn't think Pierce's early departure was anything to worry about. "I think he thought we were practicing [Wednesday]," Rivers said with a smile. "It’s called the 'veteran injury.' They know how to get hurt late because they think it excuses them from practice the next day. So, he’s fine.”
For more, visit the Celtics team page at weei.com/celtics [1] and the Green Street [2] blog.
Links:
[1] http://www.weei.com/celtics
[2] http://www.greenstreet.weei.com
[3] http://www.weei.com/category/boston/celtics