Shaq to Play, JO Out Till Next Week, Semih’s Hurt Too?

Posted by Brian Robb on Nov 11, 2010 105187 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2010%2F11%2F11%2Fshaq-to-play-jo-out-till-next-week-semihs-hurt-too%2FShaq+to+Play%2C+JO+Out+Till+Next+Week%2C+Semih%27s+Hurt+Too%3F2010-11-11+20%3A21%3A05Brian+Robbhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D10518

First off CelticsHub is giving away more free tickets for tonight courtesy of Stubhub.com (where you can find great tickets to all C’s games as well as any other concert or sporting event out there), check out the post below for more details if you are in the FL area and can attend.

Back to business though. The C’s had their shootaround down in Miami earlier today and ESPN Boston’s Chris Forsberg gives us the scoop on the latest status for all three Celtic big men, battling injuries.

Let’s start with the good news department with Shaq:
“[The knee] was a little sore last night, but I was sore all over, I’ll be all right,” said O’Neal, nodding when asked if he expects to play Thursday. “I can handle minor pain, but I was having pain when I stepped. If there’s pain when I’m stepping, what’s going to happen when I try to run? I don’t have that pain any more, just some little knots in my calf. I’ll be all right.”

Look for 15-20 minutes tonight from Shaq, tops as Doc will not risk anything more than that, he just needs the big man body more than anything else.

Now we turn to Jermaine, where the news is less promising:

“To be honest, [the knee] feels the same as [Wednesday],” said Jermaine O’Neal, admitting the lack of progress after two off-days is frustrating. “It’s coming to the point where, I may have to just take time off. We have a great staff, great doctors, but the swelling — the body reacts to something and I just gotta put my hand on it, what it’s reacting to. It’s become painful — painful to run and stuff like that.

“It’s more likely that I won’t play tonight, and if I don’t play tonight, I probably won’t play any more this trip, just to give it some time.”

Thankfully, the C’s have a nice three day respite after Saturday’s game in Memphis, returning to the Garden to host John Wall and the Wizards Wednesday night. Don’t plan on seeing Jermaine before that game, and the way he is talking about it, I wouldn’t expect the team to shelve Jermaine for a couple weeks to keep this (if possible) from becoming a recurring issue this year.

It’s tough obviously with the lack of bodies right now, but this two game on, one game off stuff is not helping the team’s rhythm or Jermaine’s for that matter.

Finally, we get to what may actually be the worst news of the day from Doc, that Turkish center Semih Erden is gutting it through a shoulder injury that he will most likely need surgery on at the end of this year:

“[Erden's] shoulder is what it is, it’s not in great shape,” Rivers said. “He’ll have to have something done on it eventually. We’re just hoping to get through the year, at least get through to [Perkins' return]. That’s basically what we’re thinking. We basically have to somehow get these three guys to survive until Perk comes back, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Already looking ahead to Perk’s return Doc? Which should be at least two months away? You can either take that as good news (Perk may be ahead of schedule in rehab) or wishful thinking.

In any case, I’ll have more on this tomorrow, but if these injuries don’t improve for either O’Neal, or if in some event Big Baby or KG goes down with an injury, Danny Ainge may have to be ready to make a roster move once Delonte West returns from his suspension next week. One more hit to the bigs depth chart would spell catastrophe to this crew right now.

As far as this evening goes, on the road, against a Miami team that needs a win, count on one of the C’s valuable big men to get into foul trouble early in this contest tonight, you know just to make things extra interesting.