Shaquille O’Neal will miss his third game of the opening round matchup between the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks tonight. His calf injury is showing improvement but he’s still not where he needs to be to get back on the floor. Although it seems like the Celtics have the series well in hand, both games have been closely contested and could have gone either way down the stretch if one or two questionable calls went the Knicks way. But if Shaq can get back in time to close out the series, he should have a strong impact on the Celtics being able to free up shooters to then spread the floor for the bigs to operate in the middle.
Coach Doc Rivers made the announcement. He said he didn’t know if O’Neal will travel to New York but, if he does, he’ll probably play in Sunday’s Game 4.The Celtics won the first two games in Boston with go-ahead baskets in the final minute.
“He is going to try to do some things (Thursday) and we’ll see,” Rivers said. “He’s had some improvement, but I don’t know how much.”
Jermaine O’Neal started both games at center.
The calf injury sidelined O’Neal for the last six regular-season games. He had missed 27 straight games with a sore right leg before hurting the calf in his first game back. He said he anticipates that O’Neal will play at some point in the postseason.
“If he goes on the trip that means we think he’ll play that Sunday,” Rivers said, “but we’re not sure.”
Read more about the status of the Big Diesel via AP on NBA.com
