BOSTON, June 6, 2008 -- It took him 10 years to get here. With the additions of Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, his team finally has the pieces to win a championship. The time is now.
So, Paul Pierce will not allow his knee injury to derail him. Not when his team has already won 79 games this season and needs just three more for a title.
When a player injures his knee like Pierce did in Game 1 Thursday night, in addition to having his mobility tested, it's typical to undergo an MRI to determine if there is any structural damage to the knee.
But Pierce has not undergone an MRI and has no plans to do so until the Finals are over. He doesn't want to know exactly what's wrong with him, because a diagnosis he doesn't like could end his series, and his season, early.
"What is it really going to tell us?" he asked rhetorically Friday. "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." Instead of an MRI, the Celtics
"Ligament sprain or meniscus tear is more likely."
Pierce called his knee "sore" and "stiff" Friday afternoon, and said that he still had some "sharp pain" on the inside of his knee. An orthopedist friend of mine says that a sharp pain on the inside of a knee sounds like a meniscus tear. After the game Thursday night, Pierce said that the doctor told him it was a "strained meniscus."
If the meniscus is just strained or torn, then Pierce probably doesn't risk further damage to his knee by playing on it. But if he doesn't have full range of motion in his knee, there's a possibility that the meniscus slipped into the knee joint, locking it up. And in that case, there is a risk of more damage.
Pierce said that if Game 2 was Friday night, he wouldn't be playing. But the Finals schedule gives him two full days before the second game (Sunday, 9 p.m. ET, ABC), and that allows him to get rest and treatment. With the off days, and considering the stakes, Pierce likes the chances that he'll play on Sunday.
"I think there's a great chance I'll play on Sunday," he said. "Just knowing myself, knowing my threshold for pain ... great chance I will be playing on Sunday."
In a way, Pierce's disregard for his injury is very similar to the way Kobe Bryant put off surgery on a torn ligament in his right pinkie just before the All-Star break. The Lakers were playing well at the time and had just acquired Pau Gasol. Bryant, sensing his team had a real shot at a top seed in the West, and in turn, a championship, played through pain rather than allow the injury to slow his team's momentum.
A year ago, Pierce and Bryant were playing pickup in L.A., unhappy with their situations with their current teams. Now, they're both in the NBA Finals. They know the alternative.
So, Bryant felt for his friend when he went down, and was glad to see him back on the floor.
"I was happy to see him come out there," Bryant said Friday, "until he made those two damn threes."
Those two threes at the end of the third quarter helped put Pierce's Celtics just three games away from the title. And as great a team as they are, there's no guarantee that they'll be back here again. A combined 32 seasons in the league from Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen without a Finals appearance will tell you that.
So, Pierce doesn't want to know if his knee has structural damage. He just wants to know that he step out onto the floor Sunday night.
"It still could be worse than I'm really putting off," he said. "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."
No matter what, the Celtics' captain is hobbled. Even if he can play, he probably won't be at the top of his game. But his presence, hobbled or not, may be enough.
It was in Game 1.
