Paul Pierce has admitted that he will be feeling emotional when he returns to the TD Garden on Sunday night for the first time since leaving the Boston Celtics last year.

The veteran forward and Kevin Garnett both joined the Brooklyn Nets from Boston before the start of this season and Pierce expects the reunion to be a special occasion.

"There's gonna be a lot of emotions," Pierce told reporters. "You play your whole life there. You won a championship there."

"The first time coming there as a visitor, I never thought it would happen."

Pierce and Garnett were part of the Boston side that won the 2008 NBA title.