Injury Ward Report: Status Uncertain for Pierce, Bradley, Pietrus For Game 5

Posted by Brian Robb on May 7, 2012 293282 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2012%2F05%2F07%2Finjury-ward-report-status-for-pierce-bradley-pietrus-up-in-the-air%2FInjury+Ward+Report%3A+Status+Uncertain+for+Pierce%2C+Bradley%2C+Pietrus+For+Game+52012-05-07+15%3A30%3A07Brian+Robbhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D29328

Despite an impressive blowout win last night, the C’s failed to make it out unscathed in the injury column as Paul Pierce highlighted a C’s roster still struggling to stay healthy:

Let’s start with The Truth, who suffered an injury Sunday morning. I’ll let him take it from there:

““I kind of tripped over someone’s foot.  I had to sit around the last half of shoot-around, and tonight I just kind of re-aggravated it when I came up off the screen with Josh Smith right there.  It’s a little bit sore right now so Doc just wanted to take precautions tonight especially when we had such a big lead.  I got some rest for the next game.….  You don’t want to really sit down or let it get stiff.  That’s why I went over and got on the bike there when I got out of the game.  If it had stiffened up on me I probably wouldn’t have had a chance to come back.”

After going 40+ minutes for the first three games, the blowout was certainly great timing for the captain. Pierce tweeted late last night that he would probably be fine moving forward

 

I think the knee is going to be fine glad I didn’t have to play a lot of minutes tonightto rest it good win tonight fellas

— Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34) May 7, 2012

Here’s Doc on Pierce’s sensationial effort despite concern going into the game about the injury:

“Yeah, we actually didn’t [know whether he would play] – when I left shoot-around, I probably thought he was not going to play. And (Trainer) Eddie (Lacerte) said, ‘Let’s see, let’s give it a try, and see how he feels.’ I talked to him right before the game; I asked him ‘What do you think?’ And he said, ‘Well let me just try to warm it up and see how I feel.’ It’s amazing. I mean, honestly, guys around the league – He was just dribbling the ball and went to the floor in shoot-around. And I was thinking, ‘What more can you –?’ We were walking. You know, that’s how you felt, like, my gosh. And honestly, when he went down, it didn’t look good. So the fact that he could come in and play, and then play the way he played was great.”

And here’s Doc talking about the multiple other injuries the team had to deal with over the course of the night:

“We had a lot of stuff going on,” Rivers said. “You may not have noticed, but we had a lot of things going on our bench with bodies. You know, MP’s hamstring, we had to take him out. Avery’s shoulder, Paul’s knee, Ray’s foot. The whole game you just felt like – I mean, you just kept looking down there – was there enough guys to put in the game?”

And what is the status for Paul and company for Game 5?

“I have no idea. You know, with a couple of guys, actually three of them, we literally don’t know. So we’ll find out.”

I assume the three guys he is referring to are Pierce, Bradley and Pietrus for game 5, as Allen’s ankle appears just to be getting better and better at this point. It’s fair to say all three are game-time decisions at this point for Tuesday, but the smart money is on all three suiting up. Either way, Tuesday’s shootaround in Atlanta (no practice today) should be another newsworthy event.