Paul Pierce Injury: Celtics Desperately Need Star Forward to Return

Paul Pierce is a game-time decision tonight, which is good news for the 0-3 Boston Celtics.

The Celtics have looked legitimately awful through their first three games and the return of their future Hall of Famer is exactly what they need.

Outside of Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen and, occasionally, Brandon Bass, the rest of this Celtics squad has been terrible.

Jermaine O'Neal's corpse has more fouls (13) than field goal attempts (12) this season. Kevin Garnett is only averaging 11.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game while shooting just 45.7 percent from the field. And Boston's usually frightening defense looks like it's being coached by Mike D'Antoni.

Through the first three games, the Celtics are giving up 106 points per game, third worst in the NBA. They're also 27th in the league in rebounding and, worst of all, are allowing opponents to shoot a ridiculous 49.6 percent from the field.

This poor play has caused Boston to drop to 0-3 for the first time since 2006-07. Luckily for them, things are about to get a little easier.

Their next five games are against Detroit, Washington, Washington again, New Jersey and Indiana. Even better, 19 of their next 25 games are at home.

With the return of Pierce, the Celtics can also stop giving major minutes to Marquis Daniels and Sasha Pavlovic.

The two have been predictably horrible this season. Daniels is shooting 32.1 percent and has a measly 5.71 player efficiency rating. Pavlovic isn't doing much better, scoring four points per game and posting a PER of 6.82.

There has been some panic out in Beantown, but things are about to get better. With the return of Pierce and a softer schedule, the Celtics will get themselves back in the playoff race.