Celtics captain Paul Pierce practiced at full speed this afternoon and is expected to be in the starting lineup against the Golden State Warriors tomorrow night.

Pierce sat out most of Monday's session with a left knee sprain and the Celtics planned to keep him out of action today. But Pierce said he had recovered from the injury, sustained late in the third quarter of Friday's game against Atlanta (97-86 loss), and he worked out without a brace or tape on his leg. Coach Doc Rivers second-guessed his decision to allow Pierce to perform at Indiana (a 113-104 defeat) Saturday, saying Pierce "talked him into it."

"I got a good response the last couple days of rest," Pierce said. "I felt good about it and it went smooth. I went the whole practice and I felt really good about it. It was a slight sprain of the knee but I'm a fast healer and I feel good.

"I'm a little older so I'm being smarter about things. If I didn't feel I could go out there I wouldn't have done it, but I felt really good today, my body responded well. Maybe I shouldn't have played because the knee was real tender and I had to play with a big wrap on it and it kind of limited me last Saturday. Sometimes rest is good, especially in a long season. But it might be what I did the last couple days, I rested it."