Paul Pierce Hopes to Play Against the Boston Celtics Tonight

Brooklyn Nets forward Paul Pierce thinks he’ll suit up for the first time against his old team on Tuesday night. Pierce had been out with a fracture in his right hand. Per Newsday: “I’m a person that’s always — when it’s time to move on, you move on. You can ask any girlfriend I’ve ever had,” Pierce said after practicing Monday for the first time since being diagnosed with a non-displaced fracture of his right hand Dec. 2. He indicated there’s ‘a good chance” he’ll play when the Nets (6-14) host the Atlantic Division-leading Celtics (10-12). Given that Deron Williams is set to return after sitting out nine games with an ankle injury, if Pierce can go, the Nets will have their starting five intact for the first time since Nov. 15. It just so happens that it would come against Pierce’s former team, the franchise for which he played 15 seasons, winning a title in 2008 with the other key component in the Celtics-Nets trade, Kevin Garnett. ‘It’s no hard feelings. I’m here,’ Pierce said. ‘This is where I’m at now and you’ve got to move on. You can’t mourn or put your head down. This is what it is.’ Pierce was supposed to be sidelined for anywhere between two and four weeks, according to the original timetable, but Tuesday marks only the 11th day since he got banged up. Before the injury, he struggled to find his groove, which, paired with Garnett’s sluggish start, has many believing the Celtics got the better end of the deal. The Nets, who parted with three first-round draft picks, are hamstrung for the next two seasons and likely won’t have any true cap space until 2015. They’ve been an early-season disaster, unable to win consecutive contests through 20 games.”