O'Neal still bothered by knee

[misha]

Blowing out the Toronto Raptors by 20 points, it's a given that Doc Rivers would rest some players and thus, cut back on their minutes.

But the reason Jermaine O'Neal sat out had nothing to do with the scoreboard, and everything to do with that still-troublesome left knee.

Prior to Friday's game, Rivers said O'Neal's left knee was sore and it only got progressively worse in the first half.

"So I knew in the second half I wasn't going to go with him," Rivers said. "And we had a lead, so we just looked at it, and if we could get him through this game and maybe play him tomorrow (against Chicago), it would be great."

If O'Neal can't play, the Celtics would likely have Semih Erden replace him in the rotation.

Erden has battled an assortment of injuries this season, but has managed to appear in 25 games for Boston which included four starts.

As for O'Neal, his sore left knee forced him to miss 19 consecutive games before returning to the Celtics lineup on Christmas Day against Orlando.

He has played in every game since then, and has seemingly played better from one game to the next.

Now, all that improvement appears to be up in the air.

Rivers isn't sure how much, if at all, he'll play against the Chicago Bulls on Saturday night.

"I think his knee's sore for the rest of his life," Rivers said. "But there's going to be different degrees of pain."

http://www.csnne.com/01/07/11/ONeal-still-bothered-by-knee/landing_celtics.html?blockID=387256&feedID=3945

[indeedproceed]

There is a reason O'Neal said he might retire after this season if the Celtics win. He's broke..ain't no fixin. But, a hurt Jermaine could still be a rotation player in the right role...hence the Celtics.

[TIME2HOOP]

Jermaine is a nice dude but Jesus his knee's are bionic.

[Drucci]

Looks like his his knees are done, hopefully he can hold on till Perk comes back and then take some rest when we have Perk/Shaq to share the minutes at the center position... but it looks like even prolonged rest doesn't do any good to JO's knees.

[Jon]

Is it perhaps a trifle unfair that he makes more than Shaq, Perk, and BBD?  Sure.  However, even if he can only give us 10-15 mpg, he could still be very valuable in the playoffs.  Knowing that Shaq, Baby, and Perk could all get into first half foul trouble guarding someone like Dwight Howard and that we'd still have the option to put Jermaine O'Neal out there makes us very, very hard to beat. 

[jsingh1699]

i completely agree with the last post.

given the few games hes played, his offense has been a bit weak, but his defense has been strong. hes never afraid to get up there for rebounds and block shots.

my guess in the playoffs, we're gonna have kg, perk, bbd, and shaq rotating the big positions. when somebody gets in foul trouble (notice i said when, and not if), jermaine's role in that game will be critical. he'll go from a potential DNP to 10-15 min in that game. so its very important to have him in the playoffs.

in terms of his salary, he is overpriced. but if he steps up even once in the playoffs, i think we'd all agree it was worth it. as much as rasheed drove us nuts last year in the regular season, i thought he stepped in the playoffs and earned that contract. if jermaine does retire at the end of the year, then we actually would get a trading chip for the summer, so it could work out in our favor.

[DinTN]

i completely agree with the last post.

given the few games hes played, his offense has been a bit weak, but his defense has been strong. hes never afraid to get up there for rebounds and block shots.

my guess in the playoffs, we're gonna have kg, perk, bbd, and shaq rotating the big positions. when somebody gets in foul trouble (notice i said when, and not if), jermaine's role in that game will be critical. he'll go from a potential DNP to 10-15 min in that game. so its very important to have him in the playoffs.

in terms of his salary, he is overpriced. but if he steps up even once in the playoffs, i think we'd all agree it was worth it. as much as rasheed drove us nuts last year in the regular season, i thought he stepped in the playoffs and earned that contract. if jermaine does retire at the end of the year, then we actually would get a trading chip for the summer, so it could work out in our favor.

Agree. Would also add "when someone has an injury (when, not if). The injury / injuries could would anywhere from minor requiring fewer minutes to someone being completely out (i.e. Per last year in Game 6 & 7)

[Birdbrain]

That sucks for Jermaine.

My positive spin on this situation is that it might head off the impending issue (Perkins) with minutes for the bigs when everyone is ready to contribute.

[pearljammer10]

This is incredibly unfortunate.

I really like JO, and I really like that he has been succeeding during his time playing. I hope he's able to do some treatment to at least get him on the floor a few minutes each game. He has played great great one on one and team defense for us so far this year.

[Tai]

...So where was this link that JO's out for another three weeks? 

If I understand correctly, he's questionable for tonight's game. I don't care how you plan to spin that...AS OF RIGHT NOW, that's better than KG.

I mean, for all we know, he comes back and has a big game. For all I know, he's had this sore knee since he came back, and Doc may wanna give him a rest.

[j804]

Pathetic - if he has to sit out long stretches weeks etc than only play a few minutes every now and then he's useless. He will have no rhythm and be rusty everytime. He should have retired last season anyway to dump him and get Sheed?

[Tai]

If JO's done, why do you want Sheed? XD

[celticinorlando]

MLE wasted. JO will never give the Cs what they need this season. Sucks but If I am Danny...I am looking to find another PF/C for the stretch

[Drucci]

Pathetic - if he has to sit out long stretches weeks etc than only play a few minutes every now and then he's useless. He will have no rhythm and be rusty everytime. He should have retired last season anyway to dump him and get Sheed?

How is it "pathethic"? It's no JO's fault if his body is breaking down (or has been for a while), you can be mad about it but you can't blame him, when he is playing he plays hard and through the pain.

[Jon]

MLE wasted. JO will never give the Cs what they need this season. Sucks but If I am Danny...I am looking to find another PF/C for the stretch

I don't really see why.  If Jermaine can give us 10-15 mpg, that's plenty.  As it is now, Shaq and Perk can easily split minutes at the 5 without Jermaine.  Factor in that BBD can play the 5 too, and I think we're probably fine as is.