The Celtics’ Paul Pierce is all puffed up about winning another NBA championship.

The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

BOSTON — Paul Pierce’s legend grew on June 5.

On that eventful night, Pierce crumpled to the floor in the third quarter of Game One of the NBA Finals after colliding with teammate Kendrick Perkins.

Clutching his knee and grimacing in pain, Pierce and the Celtics faithful thought that his season was over, and with it, the hopes of Boston winning its unprecedented 17th championship.

But Pierce would return to the game soon after in dramatic fashion and to a standing ovation. He would then bury two clutch 3-pointers in 22 seconds to close out the third quarter and give Boston a 75-71 lead. He scored 11 of his 22 points after the injury, which turned out to be a knee strain, leading Boston to an emotional 98-88 Game One victory. He went on to become the Most Valuable Player of the NBA Finals by leading the Celtics to a 4-2 series victory.

“There is no better trophy to have than the Finals MVP,” Pierce said on Monday at his basketball camp at Basketball City.

Boston fans shouldn’t have to worry about Pierce’s knee any longer. Pierce said that his knee is getting stronger every day.

“The knee is getting better,” Pierce said. “I expect to get an MRI on it this week. … I’ve still got some soreness in it, so hopefully it’s nothing major requiring surgery.”

“I plan on getting in there this week, getting the treatment, an MRI, and I’m just trying to take care of my body,” Pierce said. “I doubt if I need any surgery just based on, it’s getting better and better. I’m going to get the MRI just to take that extra precaution but I don’t see any surgery in my future. I just plan on getting the treatment until it’s all the way healed.

“There’s been some stiffness and soreness there, especially in the morning,” Pierce added. “It’s stiff. I’ve just been treating it like a sprain. A sprain usually takes like three or four weeks [to heal] so it has been about that [long]. I’ve been icing it here and there while I’ve been off.”

Icing his knee isn’t the only thing that Pierce has been doing during his summer break. He has been celebrating.

“I went out to Las Vegas with some of the guys,” Pierce said. “I went to California to see my family, then [came] back here. That’s about it.”

While in Las Vegas, Pierce saw Manny Pacquiao (beat David Diaz for the World Boxing Council lightweight title, then got to take pictures with Pacquiao after the fight.

Pierce also said he watched a lot of video from the NBA Finals.

“When you’re in it you don’t understand the significance of it and the magnitude of it until it’s over and you get a chance to watch it,” Pierce said. “Now you watch it and it was like, some of the stuff that I was out there doing — I couldn’t believe it myself. It was a lot of fun.”

Pierce said that basketball fans have treated him a lot differently since the Celtics won the NBA title.

“It’s a whole lot different when you reach that ultimate level,” Pierce said. “The respect that you get is like everywhere and from everybody. … It seems like, not that everybody wasn’t into it before, but the whole world saw what we did and now it’s crazy. The craziest thing about this thing, and I’m happy that we won it, and I’m kind of coming down off of it, but last week I was thinking, ‘We have to do this again.’ That’s what is going to motivate me next year.”

Pierce said that the Celtics are going to do everything it takes to try to win another title next season.

“I’m ready to get back at it and do it again,” Pierce said. “You feel the hunger. You feel the response from people. You get a taste of it and it’s like, you want more.”

But for now, Pierce is going to enjoy the next couple of weeks before returning to Boston next month to get ready for next season.

“I’m going to relax for the next couple of weeks before I start working out,” Pierce said. “I’ll probably go to L.A. for a couple of weeks after the ESPY [Awards] and then I’ll probably be back here for the rest of the summer.”

As far as the free-agent market goes, Pierce hopes that the Celtics can retain both James Posey and Eddie House.

“Obviously James’ stock has gone up, obviously Eddie’s stock has gone up so they are definitely two of the most important guys that we are trying to sign,” Pierce said. “But it’s difficult when you have so many guys that are bidding for them. But hopefully we can retain James Posey and Eddie for next year because those guys are a big key of what we did a year ago.”

roblee@projo.com