Boston Celtics’ Shaquille O'Neal is still doubtful for the play-offs - NBA Play-off update
The Boston Celtics had a good run in the 2010-11 National Basketball Association season even without their star player Shaquille O'Neal, who was expected to make a come-back in the post-season.
Nevertheless, the Celtics achieved a 56-26 record and grabbed the Number three spot in the Eastern Conference. Now they are enjoying the first-round of the play-offs in which they had beaten the New York Knicks twice and went 2-0 in the seven game series.
Even after achieving such good numbers the Celtics are still looking at O'Neal to make a come-back. O'Neal is most probably going to miss his third straight play-off game for the Celtics, as they meet the Knicks on Friday night in New York. He is currently
suffering from a right calf injury.
Celtics Coach Doc Rivers announced on Wednesday that he is not sure if O’Neal is going to play in New York, but if he will travel, then most probably he is going to take part in Sunday’s Game 4. The Celtics defeated the Knicks in the final minutes of the
previous two games with go-ahead baskets. Jermaine O'Neal was the centre and started for the Celtics in both games.
Rivers said, "He is going to try to do some things (Thursday) and we'll see. He's had some improvement, but I don't know how much."
Rivers told the media people that the evaluation was a bit cold, in fact, as O'Neal has shown some physical progress and will be assessed by their training personnel before the squad leaves for New York on Thursday. Boston and the Knicks will meet for Game
3 on Friday at Madison Square Garden and for Game 4 on Sunday.
Rivers said, "He’s had some improvement, but I don’t know how much. I’m just going by what [team trainer] Eddie [Lacerte] and [team physician Dr. Brian] McKeon tell me. They thought he’s had some improvement."
The calf injury has kept O'Neal out of game for the last six regular-season games. He had missed 27 games in a row with a painful right leg before hurting his calf in the first come-back game. The former NBA Most Valuable Player spent less than five and
a half minutes on the court in his return game before he left with the new injury.
Regardless of the 87-85 and 96-93 victories, coach Rivers has not been satisfied with his team’s performances.
He said, "We can play smarter. We gave them so many extra possessions and things like that. A lot of it was our rotations that we have to get better at, we have to be smarter at (but) we're 2-0. That's good, and the good thing is we have to play better and
we will play better."
On Wednesday the Celtics watched the film of their previous game to study, but they did not practice.
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