Paul Pierce reportedly suffered an asthma attack while playing for the Kentucky Bisons in the Chinese Intercontinental Basketball Championship, according to the sports website NuiBBall.com.

A report from NetEase says Pierce and teammate Michael Beasley both suffered asthma attacks due to the amount of cigarettes being smoked in the arena. Ironic, no — Michael Beasley suffering an asthma attack from inhaling too much smoke?

Beasley reportedly later suffered some sort of weird injury or illness in his hotel room, falling to the floor and rolling around in pain. An ambulance was called and Beasley was taken to the hospital.

That would not be poor Beasley’s only trip to the hospital while in China. Some time during the final game, he hurt his wrist. Not appreciating the extent of the injury, Beasley participated in a dunk contest after the game. He hammered down two dunks but woke up the following morning in enough pain to return to the hospital, where his injury was determined a likely fracture.

Pierce didn’t have all of Beasley’s bad luck, but The Truth’s trip, at least from a basketball standpoint, didn’t go as planned. The Bisons lost to Cairns Taipans 88-63 in what I believe was the tournament semifinals, and Pierce and Beasley were reportedly underwhelming. Or they did not play at all due to physical discomfort, depending on which report you trust. Chinese reporting, being that it is in Chinese and translates rather poorly, is cryptic and difficult to follow.

It seems that Pierce and Beasley suffered from asthma during the semifinals game. Though reports differ as to whether they actually played, the Cairns Taipan team blog describes Pierce and Beasley’s play as unimpressive.

“As expected the crowd went crazy for NBA superstars Paul Pierce and Michael Beasley,” wrote the blog, “but they would be quickly quietened by a tenacious Taipans defense.”

After a first half in which Pierce and Beasley were reportedly “kept well under control” (remember, this is the Cairns Taipans team blog, so judge the veracity for yourself) and the Bisons fell behind 43-19, Pierce and Beasley were said to show signs of life.

“The Americans did lift in the second with their NBA stars showing some signs of brilliance; however the boys were never going to give an inch and still claimed the half by a point to ensure the 88 to 63 victory,” wrote the team blog.

Unrelated to anything, the team blog also described an earlier win as “a great win where the group learnt much from the experience, mainly to never use public toilets in China.”

Pierce played only 14 minutes in the consolation game and mustered three points on 1-4 shooting. It’s unclear how well he felt, but with that Marquis Danielsian statline, I would assume he was not feeling 100%.