Pierce says knee is 100%

by **bobheckler** Sat Sep 29, 2012 8:16 pm

http://espn.go.com/boston/nba/story/_/id/8436647/boston-celtics-paul-pierce-says-knee-100-percent-now

WALTHAM, Mass. -- Paul Pierce
admitted Friday that the sprained MCL in his left knee he suffered in
the first round of the playoffs last season was beyond immediate
treatment, but affirmed he's entering the 2012-13 season at 100 percent
after an offseason of conditioning and strengthening.
Pierce initially suffered the injury at a team shootaround prior to Game 3 in the Celtics' quarterfinal series against the Atlanta Hawks, further aggravated it during the game that night, and then was limited for the remainder of the postseason.

"I'm 100 percent now," Pierce said at the team's annual
media day. "But I think it was maybe Game 3 (against) Atlanta. ... It
really limited me because it was like no treatment that I could have
done at the time was going to get it better. It limited me as far as
lateral movement and jumping ability. Not that I had a lot of jumping
ability anyway. And there's times when you get up out of bed and it's
really stiff, you've got to get on the bike to warm it up. It was
definitely a mental grind at that point. I'm just happy that's behind
me."
With a new season about to begin and Pierce not
getting any younger, the conversation quickly turned to minutes. Pierce
said he doesn't have a number in mind that he would like to play each
night, opting instead for allowing coach Doc Rivers to monitor that part
of the equation.
"I'm going to listen to my body," the
soon-to-be 35-year-old Pierce said. "(Doc is) going to kind of watch how
the game is going, how I'm playing. If I can still play at a high
level, who knows what that number may be. Doc has always found a good
balance at finding that number."
Rivers doesn't have a set
number of minutes in mind for Pierce, either, but he did acknowledge he
might experiment with the 5-5-5 minute structure he already has employed
for Kevin Garnett.
"We
may even do a little bit of it with Paul. It's hard to do it with two
guys like that, honestly," Rivers said. "But we've talked a lot about
our minutes with those two, in particular, as a staff, and we've come up
with a lot of things. But they all sound great and then you get in the
game. Like I said last year, it only works if it works for the player,
and it worked for Kevin. We're going to try some things with Paul in the
preseason and just see how that goes."
The Celtics managed
to get through a relatively injury-free season when they won the
championship back in 2008, but each season since, they've been plagued
by various maladies to crucial rotation players. Not surprisingly,
Pierce pointed to health as something of an X-factor for this year's
team, even with a host of younger, more athletic additions.
"I
think the key for us, if we're going to win another championship, is
going to be our health," Pierce said. "You have to be good, you have to
be lucky, sometimes over things you can't control, as you saw. Since our
first year we won it, we haven't been lucky enough to be healthy, so
hopefully we're healthy this year and we can make another run at it."
As
with each new season, the idea of Pierce being a year older and,
perhaps, more prone to injury, was raised. But the captain quickly shot
down the notion of his game deteriorating now that he's in his mid-30s.
He has standards for himself and expects them to be fulfilled.
"The
pressure that I'm putting on myself is far greater than anyone can put
on me," Pierce said. "I expect to go out and perform well, every year. I
expect to go out and play at a high level. I expect to go out and be
one of the best players in the NBA, every year that I step out there."

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:8436969

bob

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