Paul Pierce bruised his left knee in the third quarter of Friday night’s loss to Atlanta. Pierce said afterward that he will see how it responds before making a decision on whether to play on Saturday night at Indiana.

“It’s a little tender, I’m just going to wait to see how it feels when it cools down,” he said. “On the play I was falling down and my foot got stepped on, sort of turned it so it was a light sprain in the knee. You know I’m just gonna ice it right now and see how it feels a little bit later.”

Pierce led the Celtics with 24 points, and returned with a soft brace on his knee with just under 11 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Celtics flew out to Indianapolis following their 97-86 loss to the Hawks at the Garden.