Shaq To Sit Out Tonight and Tomorrow vs. Hawks

Posted by Brian Robb on Dec 15, 2010 1228620 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2010%2F12%2F15%2Fshaq-to-sit-out-tonight-and-tomorrow-vs-hawks%2FShaq+To+Sit+Out+Tonight+and+Tomorrow+vs.+Hawks2010-12-15+17%3A31%3A34Brian+Robbhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D12286

Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe first broke the news last hour that the Big Diesel would not suit up tonight against the Knicks. Now Greg Dickerson has just tweeted the news that the seven-footer will be out for tomorrow night’s TNT showdown against the Atlanta Hawks as well to continue to rest his sore right calf.

CH Analysis: This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. O’Neal has missed the past two games now in Philly and Charlotte and the C’s right now may be in an easy part of their schedule opponent wise, but it is ideal as far as how spread out the games are. Let’s take a look at the upcoming contests:

Tonight: vs. New York
Thursday: @ Atlanta
Sunday vs. Indiana
12/22 vs. Philadelphia
12/25 @ Orlando
12/28 @ Indiana

Besides the back-to-back stretch tonight and tomorrow, that’s as good as it gets in the NBA when it comes to rest. So for Doc Rivers and trainer Eddie Lacerte, there’s no real need to rush O’Neal back here when you have the chance to give him some serious rest for the next two weeks. Undoubtedly, it makes the C’s depth very thin up front with just three rotation bigs in the fold, along with Luke Harangody waiting in the wings for emergency duty. With that amount of rest though in between games, it’s very fair to assume that Doc can divvy up the 96 minutes a night fairly evenly between those three bodies and do it without leaning on either of those three guys too heavily.

Semih has proven he can handle big minutes the past two games, especially Saturday night in Charlotte where he logged 41. KG is obviously playing some of the best ball of his Celtic career right now as is Glen Davis. Combine that with the fact that Boston experimenting well with going small over this 10-game winning streak as well, (which they will probably have to do tonight against New York) and you see why Doc hasn’t hesitated to give the big fellow some additional rest.

The last thing this team can afford right now is for O’Neal to have to sit out for an extended period, with Perkins not due back for two months and no real timetable yet on Jermaine’s return. Thus, when the time off can be given with minimal repercussions, it has to be taken. Shaq needs to be healthy when it counts, and resting him now is the best way to help ensure of it.