WALTHAM, Mass. (AP) — Boston Celtics star Paul Pierce showed up for his prepractice meeting with reporters carrying a basketball, which he bounced from time to time while answering questions.

Get used to it: Pierce will have the ball in his hands a lot more from now on.

Two days after learning that Rajon Rondo has a torn knee ligament that will keep him out the rest of the season, the Celtics returned to practice for the first time to work on an extended future without the All-Star point guard. Coach Doc Rivers says everyone will have to work to replace Rondo.

“It’s just basketball,” he said. “There’s no point guard. It’s just basketball by committee. I don’t want a guy thinking now he’s Rondo.”

Rondo was averaging 13.7 points, 11.1 assists and 5.6 rebounds per game, with triple-doubles in back-to-back games when he was scratched from Sunday’s game against the defending NBA-champion Miami Heat. He was sent to the hospital to check on what the team believed was a hyperextended right knee.

The actual diagnosis: A torn anterior cruciate ligament that required surgery and a recovery period of up to a year.

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