Celtics captain Paul Pierce is expected to return to the court on Wednesday night against the Heat.

Pierce has been sidelined for Boston's last five games following a pair of procedures to drain fluid in his right knee after an infection was discovered in December.

His status will be re-evaluated on Wednesday morning, but he returned to the practice court on Tuesday.

"We'll see how it feels, but I got a good practice in [Tuesday]," said Pierce. "It's not 100 percent, but it's getting better.

"I'm about as confident as I'm going to be until it's 100 percent. I'm not feeling any pressure or pain when I push off on it because, as I said, it wasn't any ligament damage. It's just a matter of the swelling going down each day. We're down to the fact [of how far] I can bend it, and I have a lot more flexibility the past few days."