Add Kevin Garnett and Sasha Pavlovic to the growing number of Boston Celtics nursing nicks and knacks during the preseason. (ESPN Boston)

Rivers said Garnett injured his thumb during practice on Thursday and was held out as a precautionary measure. He is still expected to play during Sunday’s exhibition opener in Toronto.

“He hurt his thumb [Thursday] in practice. X-rays were negative, which is good, but we just didn’t want to play him today,” said Rivers. “He’ll play Sunday.”

Rivers reaffirmed that Pierce will sit out Sunday’s game, but expects him to rejoin practice soon after. Pavloivc got undercut in Wednesday’s session and is nursing a wrist injury that further thins wing depth.

“Again, [X-rays were] negative [on Pavlovic],” said Rivers. “He’s just got to wait and let it heal. He’ll be back soon. But I don’t know if that means Sunday or not.”

So since the Celtics began preseason, Sasha Pavlocic got undercut and needed x-rays for his wrist, Kevin Garnett hurt his thumb and required x-rays of his own, Rajon Rondo turned his ankle and missed a few days of practice, Paul Pierce injured his heel and still hasn’t returned, Doc Rivers said first-round draft pick JaJuan Johnson has no low-post game (in his defense, his jump shot is a weapon), and Jeff Green failed a physical, required additional testing for some mysterious ailment and is expected to miss regular season time.

All of which (except for the Johnson post game part) begs the question: How much would it take to hire the entire Phoenix Suns training staff?