ChosenOne Posted April 28, 2011 Report Share Posted April 28, 2011 (edited) WALTHAM — Another day, another update on Shaquille O'Neal. For days, the Boston Celtics have talked about how O'Neal and his sore right calf/Achilles were improving. Well, the C's will find out today when he returns to practice. Celtics said the team will go through a skeleton practice, which he later told CSNNE.com involved no contact but would require O'Neal to run at full speed. "That'll be good for him," Rivers told CSNNE.com. "Full speed, no contact is probably the best thing for him right now." Depending on how today's practice goes, O'Neal would then participate in the team's practice on Friday morning but in a limited capacity. "He'll practice some, but not all of that practice," Rivers said. The last time O'Neal took the floor was April 3 vs. Detroit, a game in which he lasted less than six minutes before re-aggravating the injury. While that's certainly something to watch, Rivers said he's not overly concerned about it. "At the end of the day, either he can do it or he can't," Rivers said. "And we have to find out. If he can't get through full skeleton, he probably can't play. COMCAST SPORTSNET Edited April 28, 2011 by ChosenOne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sun Tzu Posted April 29, 2011 Report Share Posted April 29, 2011 Hopefully he does return. I doubt he'd be ready throughout the Heat series, but hopefully by the Finals, if they do make it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted April 29, 2011 Report Share Posted April 29, 2011 http://i52.tinypic.com/2prryad.jpg 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celtics3420 Posted April 29, 2011 Report Share Posted April 29, 2011 Could care less what the reports are saying, until he actually suits up and walks up to the scorers table, i'm not buying anything they're saying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChosenOne Posted April 29, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2011 ShaqWatch: No decision, more confidence WALTHAM, Mass. -- Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers said he remains uncertain when ailing center Shaquille O'Neal will return to game action, but expressed heightened confidence Friday in his potential to do so in an Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Miami Heat. "He just did a little bit yesterday, maybe some more today," said Rivers. "Really that’s the only update I have. No decision has been made or anything. I’m more confident now that he’ll play in this series. I don’t know when. Maybe [Game] 1, maybe [Game] 2. But I do think he’ll play.” According to Rivers, O'Neal participated in limited portions of Thursday's walkthrough and there was hope he'd ramp up that workload a bit Friday, but Rivers wasn't sure how much live action he'd see. "He just did some stuff with [team trainer] Eddie [Lacerte on Thursday]," said Rivers. "Eddie's more confident that he'll play, so that makes me more confident." Pressed on what O'Neal might need to show in order to be ready for Game 1, Rivers said that wouldn't likely come until this weekend. "He needs to show something [saturday], maybe," said Rivers. "Then feel better after that. Listen, I wish I could tell. I have no idea. I really don’t. My confidence comes from Eddie. Eddie walked in and said, ‘I feel a lot better about it.’ So, I feel better about it. That’s as much as I can tell you." ESPN-Boston Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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