Pierce will play through knee sprain

By Michael Vega

The day after, Paul Pierce had a noticeable limp, his right knee still sore, stiff,
Miraculously (except, perhaps, to the man known as Dr. Phil in the Lakers' huddle), Pierce overcame his injury that led to him being carried off the court, and returned to a thunderous ovation to score half of his 22 points.

"I've never had any knee problems in my career, so it was real scary once I felt a sharp pain in it," Pierce said yesterday at TD Banknorth Garden, where the team held a film session and shot free throws. "There's a little pain in it right now, so I'm just going to keep it wrapped, iced. [There was] still a little bit of swelling this morning when we looked at it. [I'll] just continue to get treatments and go from there."

Pierce said he took "four Advils" for the inflammation and would eschew an MRI.

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