| | Associated Press
WALTHAM, Mass. -- It was 4:30 a.m. when Rick Pitino got the
phone call that jolted him out of his sleep: Paul Pierce had been
stabbed.
"I did fear the worst," the coach of the Boston Celtics said
Monday.
One week after the attack, Pitino predicted his young star would
be ready for the season opener Nov. 1.
"If I was a fortune teller, I would say he'd play, knowing
Paul," Pitino said, but "that's up to the doctors and that's up
to Paul.
"He was in great shape prior to this happening. Paul is not
only tough-minded, tough physically, but obviously he's healed as
quickly as any human being could possibly heal."
Pierce didn't join his teammates Monday for the team's annual
media day at the start of training camp, but Pitino said he'll be
there every day even if he doesn't participate in drills.
The 22-year-old swingman was stabbed repeatedly and struck on
the head with a bottle the morning of Sept. 24 inside a nightclub
in the downtown theater district, prosecutors said. Three men were
arrested, and Pierce was released from New England Medical Center
last Thursday after undergoing lung surgery.
Pitino said that after first visiting Pierce, "I just was as
disheartened and down as I could be ... seeing how battered he was.
And the next day, when I went back and I looked at him and I saw a
totally different person.
"And the next day I went back and I thought it was
miraculous."
The 6-foot-7 Pierce still isn't ready to participate in Pitino's
grueling two-a-day practices. Bumping teammates trying to guard him
is some time off. The Celtics are relieved about one thing, though.
They know the player who will have a key role in their success
this season will be back.
He averaged 19.5 points last season, his second since being
drafted in the first round out of Kansas. But the Celtics were
35-47 and haven't made the playoffs in Pitino's three years as
coach.
Foward Antoine Walker said Pierce's health "is bigger than
basketball, way bigger than basketball. ... You don't want to rush
that situation. You want to make sure he heals properly."
The mental wounds may take longer to disappear when Pierce takes
the court before nearly 15,000 fans, mostly strangers.
"It's going to be hard for him to overcome," said Randy Brown,
the former Chicago guard obtained in the offseason. "This is a
situation where his life was threatened. He got really lucky. I
think with the guys behind him, he'll be fine."
Forward Tony Battie was with Pierce at the club but was
reluctant to discuss what happened.
"I'm just glad Paul is doing well right now. He'll be back with
us. He's alive," Battie said. "He's doing a lot better. He's in
great spirits."
So far, there's been no indication that Pierce's celebrity had
anything to do with the attack.
Guard Kenny Anderson said it could have happened to anyone.
"Being born and raised in New York, I know you've just got to
be careful whatever you do," he said.
Former Celtics great Bill Russell, helping out at training camp,
agreed.
"This is a country full of people that are close to the edge,"
he said, "so you never can tell what you're going to run into.
It's like the luck of the draw."
Pitino considers Pierce very lucky.
"When you look at getting hit over the head with a bottle,
being knocked to the ground, being stabbed multiple times to come
out of it in a short period of time being 100 percent, to me,
that's the greatest blessing that any organization can have,"
Pitino said. "This is tremendous good luck."
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