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NBA FINALS: LAKERS v CELTICS

June 6, 2008

Paul Pierce

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Practice Day

Q. How you doing? How are you feeling?
PAUL PIERCE: The knee is pretty sore right now. It's a little stiff. Last night after the game I was able to ice it. I went home, wrapped it up in a mini little cast, came back this morning, did a little bit of treatment. Still some sharp pain going on in the knee. So I plan to do today, tomorrow, just get some treatment, about two, three times a day, see how it feels on Sunday. I can walk on it, I can bend it, but there's a little sharp pain on the inside of my knee. Just going to get the treatments in the next couple days and see how I feel.

Q. Is it a matter of, can you do any more damage to it, or is it just putting up with the pain?
PAUL PIERCE: I think it's more so putting up with the pain right now. Initially when you get a pain in the knee -- I've never had any knee problems in my career, so it was real scary once a felt a sharp pain in it, and it just -- it was something I've never felt before. There's a little pain in it right now, so I'm just going to keep it wrapped, ice, still a little bit of swelling this morning when we looked at it, just continue to get treatments and go from there.

Q. What kind of treatment did you get when you went back into the locker room last night?
PAUL PIERCE: Well, last night when we got back in the back, once I stood up on it, I just wanted to see where the pain was, see how much weight I could put on my leg. Once I stood up, still some sharpness of the pain in the knee, but I felt that I could put my weight on it. With the magnitude of the game and I'm still warm, I just thought, hey, I wanted to get back out on the court before it stiffened up while I was still warm, just play through it, and then after the game see how I felt. That was the reason once I got back there, the doctor kind of grabbed it, pressed in some spots, felt where the pain was, bent it, stood up on it, jogged a little bit in the locker room. Once I felt I could do that, I just wanted to get back out on the court as fast as possible so it didn't lock up.

Q. Have you taken anything for pain?
PAUL PIERCE: Just four Advils when I came back (laughter). That's about it.

Q. The reason I ask is Phil Jackson was a little cynical about the whole quick return after you went in.
PAUL PIERCE: Well, I don't know what to say.

Q. On a lighter note, any of your friends, not your teammates, making fun of you for getting carried off the court? And then looking back, have you had a chance to look at the video of yourself getting carried off the court, and do you find any humor in it?
PAUL PIERCE: No, none of my friends, they're just pretty much concerned about me. You know, at the time when you get a sharp pain in your knee, you really don't know what to think as an athlete. I mean, I never had any knee problems in my career, so once my knee got hit and I fell to the ground, it was just once the sharpness went down my leg, I didn't want to roll over or stand up with a sharp pain going through. I really couldn't tell when I was out there on the court the extent of the injury. It wasn't until I went to the back to see how I felt and how I'm feeling today.
Like I said, everybody just was concerned. I did have a chance to go back and look at it. It was crazy to me because I've never been carried off the court, and it was like, man, I said, I have to be close to death or blood everywhere for me to get carried off. It was sort of embarrassing, truthfully. I should have just laid there for five more minutes and then got up. Hopefully it won't happen again. If I get carried off the next time, there's no way I'm going to come back (laughter).

Q. Doc came out and said that there was no structural damage to your knee. How have you guys determined that? Have you had an MRI, or how exactly do you know that there is no structural damage?
PAUL PIERCE: Well, I had two doctors look at it and we did some tests on it, some standing lateral movements. What the professionals and the doctors, they know without MRI, just their evaluation.
Regardless of the MRI at this point, I mean, what is it really going to tell us? The extent of the injury, but at this point with two weeks left, six games to go, we can figure this out after the season.

Q. Would it be appropriate to have it looked at with MRI between now and Game 2 with two full days off?
PAUL PIERCE: Either I can play or I can't, regardless of what the MRI says.

Q. So you don't want to have one?
PAUL PIERCE: Just wait until the season is over.

Q. Is there any chance you would not play on Sunday?
PAUL PIERCE: I mean, there can be a chance. Right now if the game was today, I most likely wouldn't be able to play today. Thank goodness for the schedule being that we get a couple days now. So I'm just going to evaluate tomorrow, see how I feel tomorrow after round 2 of treatment, and on Sunday go from there.

Q. It seems as though listening to you kind of go back through it that there was a real sense of fear with your injury as you were carried off the floor and went back. And was there a sense of relief, as well, once you realized, hey, it's not as bad as I thought and you came back into the game? Can you talk about that change of emotion you went through in that period of time.
PAUL PIERCE: I was scared. Man, I was scared. When you're laying there and pain going through your knee, I mean, I see it all the time. I see it in football, baseball, basketball, guys hurt their knees, it's not good. Once I felt a sharp pain, you know, I didn't know what to think. The worst came to mind.
And it still could be worse than I'm really putting off. I mean, I'm not planning on getting an MRI until after the season, so I mean, it could be bad, but right now I'm just getting treatments and see how I feel on Sunday.

Q. I know that you don't know one way or the other about Sunday, but what would you say the chances are that you'll play on Sunday?
PAUL PIERCE: I think there's a great chance I'll play on Sunday, just knowing myself, knowing my threshold for pain. Great chance I will be playing on Sunday.

End of FastScripts

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