Miami Herald - Shaq Most likely will play Saturday
CHICAGO - When the big fella went down, the big picture got pretty murky.
Shaquille O'Neal crashed to the floor in the opening minutes Tuesday, grabbed his left knee and shot an alarmed look at the Heat bench, suddenly making the game against the Bulls a secondary concern.
The injury was diagnosed as a strained left knee, but further evaluations will reveal the true extent of the injury, and the Heat could be forced to play a lot more games like the 105-101 overtime loss to Chicago.
O'Neal left the Heat locker room after the game without commenting about his injury but walked with a pronounced limp.
Before he left, though, he passed along a message to his teammate Damon Jones.
'He said, `I'll be OK,' period,'' Jones said.
Despite O'Neal's encouraging message, the injury looks like it will cause O'Neal to miss some significant time.
The play occurred just 1 minute 35 seconds into the game, as Dwyane Wade drove into the lane and drew the Bulls defense. Wade lobbed a pass that O'Neal jumped to catch, but on his way down, his right foot landed on Othella Harrington, who had fallen in a collision with Wade. That left O'Neal to land with all his weight on his left leg, and he crumpled to the floor immediately, reached for his left knee and motioned to the bench that a timeout be called.
After Luol Deng scored on the other end, the Heat called a timeout, and team trainer Ron Culp tended to O'Neal, who hesitated to straighten his left leg.
O'Neal spent about two minutes on the floor before finally getting up with the help of teammates. He walked off the floor under his own power but put little weight on his left leg.
X-RAYS NEGATIVE
X-rays taken at the United Center were negative, but X-rays rarely reveal damage to ligaments in the knee. O'Neal did travel with the team to Indianapolis for its game against the Pacers tonight, and it's likely O'Neal will have an MRI exam taken either today in Indianapolis or Thursday in Miami to determine the extent of the damage.
With O'Neal out, the Heat turned to Michael Doleac at center, but like Udonis Haslem, Doleac was in foul trouble and was limited to 21 minutes. With Christian Laettner on the injured list, Heat coach Stan Van Gundy turned to seldom-used center Wang Zhi-Zhi for important minutes
CHICAGO - When the big fella went down, the big picture got pretty murky.
Shaquille O'Neal crashed to the floor in the opening minutes Tuesday, grabbed his left knee and shot an alarmed look at the Heat bench, suddenly making the game against the Bulls a secondary concern.
The injury was diagnosed as a strained left knee, but further evaluations will reveal the true extent of the injury, and the Heat could be forced to play a lot more games like the 105-101 overtime loss to Chicago.
O'Neal left the Heat locker room after the game without commenting about his injury but walked with a pronounced limp.
Before he left, though, he passed along a message to his teammate Damon Jones.
'He said, `I'll be OK,' period,'' Jones said.
Despite O'Neal's encouraging message, the injury looks like it will cause O'Neal to miss some significant time.
The play occurred just 1 minute 35 seconds into the game, as Dwyane Wade drove into the lane and drew the Bulls defense. Wade lobbed a pass that O'Neal jumped to catch, but on his way down, his right foot landed on Othella Harrington, who had fallen in a collision with Wade. That left O'Neal to land with all his weight on his left leg, and he crumpled to the floor immediately, reached for his left knee and motioned to the bench that a timeout be called.
After Luol Deng scored on the other end, the Heat called a timeout, and team trainer Ron Culp tended to O'Neal, who hesitated to straighten his left leg.
O'Neal spent about two minutes on the floor before finally getting up with the help of teammates. He walked off the floor under his own power but put little weight on his left leg.
X-RAYS NEGATIVE
X-rays taken at the United Center were negative, but X-rays rarely reveal damage to ligaments in the knee. O'Neal did travel with the team to Indianapolis for its game against the Pacers tonight, and it's likely O'Neal will have an MRI exam taken either today in Indianapolis or Thursday in Miami to determine the extent of the damage.
With O'Neal out, the Heat turned to Michael Doleac at center, but like Udonis Haslem, Doleac was in foul trouble and was limited to 21 minutes. With Christian Laettner on the injured list, Heat coach Stan Van Gundy turned to seldom-used center Wang Zhi-Zhi for important minutes
Shaquille O'Neal: Out For the Year
RotoWire.com Staff - RotoWire.com
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Update: O'Neal (knee) is out for the season, ESPNews reports.
Recommendation: Obviously, this is huge news - suddenly the Pistons become the big favorites in the East again, and the Heat will have to try to milk more minutes out of Alonzo Mourning when he signs.
Updated on Wednesday,
RotoWire.com Staff - RotoWire.com
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Update: O'Neal (knee) is out for the season, ESPNews reports.
Recommendation: Obviously, this is huge news - suddenly the Pistons become the big favorites in the East again, and the Heat will have to try to milk more minutes out of Alonzo Mourning when he signs.
Updated on Wednesday,
RobFunk said:
Not out for now....the report was completely false. He will have an MRI on the knee on thursday which will reveal the true damage done. So as of now he is day-to-day, with the possibility of being done for the season if a torn ligament comes up in the MRI. We should know more tomarrow afternoon.
