BOSTON - It might not be a full throw-down of epic proportions, but the NBA Finals picked up some juice today due to a disagreement on just how hurt Paul Pierce was in Thursday night’s Game One.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson seemed to scoff at the severity of Pierce’s third-quarter injury after the game, and today he wasn’t ready to place the injury and Pierce’s triumphant return with any of the other great moments in history. For example, Jackson was a teammate of New York Knicks center Willis Reed when he walked onto the Madison Square Garden court with a painful leg injury in the Finals back in the early 1970s.

“Well if I’m not mistaken, I think Willis Reed missed a whole half and three quarters of a game and literally had to have a shot, a horse shot, three or four of them in his thigh, to come back out and play,” said Jackson. “ Paul got carried off and was back on his feet in a minute. I don't know if the angels visited him at halftime or in that timeout period that he had or not, but he didn't even limp when he came back out on the floor. I don't know what was going on there. Was Oral Roberts back there in their locker room?”

Pierce didn’t bite when told of Jackson’s comments. “I don’t know what to say,” was his only response.

Doc Rivers wouldn’t wade into the fray either but did joke, ``aren't we skeptics anyway now about everything? So what the heck, let it begin. Lee Harvey Oswald did it.”

Teammate Kevin Garnett wasn’t as understanding. “He’s hurt. It’s not up to them to approve or disapprove or to judge. The man got carried off the court. I mean, that’s pretty significant. I don’t know what they’re doing over there. I’m focused on what we’re doing over here.”

Here is the Pierce update. He’s very sore and a bit stiff. So much that he said he probably would not be able to play if Game Two was tonight. The series resumes Sunday. “Right now if the game was today, I most likely wouldn’t be able to play today. Thank goodness for the schedule,” Pierce said.

Pierce said he will not have an MRI on a knee injury that was diagnosed as a sprained meniscus. That seems like a stretch considering that the Celtics need to know exactly what the problem is with such an important player for their franchise.

“It still could be worse than I’m really putting off,” he said. “I mean, I’m not planning on getting an MRI until after the season, so I mean it could be bad but right now I’m just getting treatments and see how I feel on Sunday.”