Doc Rivers and the Boston Celtics training staff discussed whether Ray Allen should take a game off to rest his ailing ankle, but Allen would rather do whatever he can to help the Celtics on the court. His pleas have convinced Rivers to hold off on the move, at least for now. (ESPN Boston)

“My trainers and I discussed (taking a game off),” Allen conceded, “but I really, really do not want go that route. Just put me out there and let me do the best I can.”

“Not yet,” Rivers told reporters later in the day when asked about a potential move. “We’re good. Ray is Ray, we’re going to just keep rolling him out there and see what we can get. When we feel like he can’t give it to us, we’ll go with someone else. But I think right now you have to give Ray a fighting chance.”

Perhaps the greatest indication of Allen’s pain — besides his recent and damning inability to hit the broad side of Vince Wilfork’s arse with a basketball — is that he sat poolside today during the Celtics’ day off. Sitting poolside sounds great to me (and I imagine most other humans), but Allen would normally be doing something more productive, like running in the hot Florida sun or shooting hundreds of jump shots.

“I can deal with contusions and soreness, but this is a different challenge for me,” he said. “I do miss (working out). I was driving down the street yesterday, talking to my friend and I told him, ‘Normally I’d be running outside, getting that good sweat in… Now I’m sitting by the pool.”

So Allen will continue playing through pain. His next step, which may prove futile, is discovering how to thrive in spite of it.