Paul Pierce believes that his return to action is near, but after his ordeal of the last week, the Celtics [team stats] captain wants to be absolutely certain of his recovery from two surgeries to drain an infection in his left knee.
“At this point it’s all in my pain threshold,” Pierce, who yesterday jumped rope and rode an exercise bicycle for the first time since the issues arose, said of not worrying about further damage to the knee. “No ligament damage, no tear. The swelling is going down every day. I measure it every day, ice it, keep my leg strong. . . . Right now I can’t bend it all the way back when I want to, but when I can I’ll probably be able to play.
“Of course you want to play, but you don’t want to be dumb. You have to pay attention to the longevity of it. I want to get out there when I’m feeling better and healthy.”
Pierce plans to accompany the team on its next road trip, a two-game jaunt that starts Wednesday in Miami and ends Friday in Atlanta, and also hopes to play in the opener against the Heat. But the ordeal of the last week has redefined time for Pierce, who after rushing to the hospital the morning after a Dec. 22 game against Indiana had to return on Christmas for a second procedure.
“All day actually,” Pierce said of the initial visit. “I was supposed to spend the night. But then the next three or four days I had to go back. First time they drained it, but then Friday morning I woke up (and) it was swelled up again. Then they found the infection, and I had to have surgery again - so I had two surgeries, actually. When I talked to the doctor, he mentioned that I had 40,000 white blood cells, so it had to be fighting something. On Friday, the white blood cells went down, which means the healing started.
Pierce felt fine immediately following the Pacers game.
“I got home, sat back relaxing, and then I felt a slight pain in my knee,” he said. “Over a 10- or 15-minute period it just got worse and worse, from sore to bad to extreme. It was crazy. That’s when I called Eddie (Lacerte, the team trainer) at 1:30 in the morning, and he knows I never call him. So he came over to the house, and we went to the hospital that morning. (The) infection somehow got into the leg. I got a cut on my toe from the locker room and it could have been that, but I have no idea.
“You’ve got severe pain in your knee and you’re watching it swell up, that’s not normal. . . . But you have things like this, you have to be positive. There are people far worse off than I am on Christmas day. I’m still alive and in a good situation.”
Sheed T-akes over
Rasheed Wallace, courtesy of a double technical foul in the first quarter of last night’s 103-96 win against the Toronto Raptors after an entanglement with Hedo Turkoglu, moved back into first place in the league with 11 techs. Wallace had been tied with teammate Kendrick Perkins [stats].
“That was some B.S.,” Wallace said. “We both went up for a rebound (and got tangled up). He swung his arm and hit me in the chest. If anything, it should be a double foul. I know why they did it, but I ain’t even tripping on it.”
Perkins, who is appealing his two most recent techs, talked Friday with NBA discipline czar Stu Jackson. The league has yet to announce a decision on the appeal.
“I think we’ll get something accomplished,” Perkins said.
Doc takes aim
Reports of gunplay in the Washington Wizards locker room between Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton left Celtics coach Doc Rivers shaking his head.
“I heard that and said, ‘Wow, that’s a new one,’ ” Rivers said. “The league has changed. The sad thing is our league is phenomenal, we have a bunch of great guys, and every time something like this happens it puts a black mark on our league.
“I still don’t get the gun thing, period. What the hell do you need a gun for. I guess we’re in the wild, wild West now.”
Posts
