In their playoff preview, Basketbawful makes a pretty good point about the now Shaq-less Suns.
They then replaced Shaq, who was an All-Star in 2008-09, with a combination of Channing Frye and Robin Lopez and finished this season as the third seed in the West.
When the book is written about Shaq’s career, I want this chapter included please.
Shaq is obviously one of the greatest players of all time, but he was a bad fit in Phoenix. I’m sure even Steve Kerr would admit that.
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Brian Windhorst of Cleveland.com reports that Shaquille O’Neal appears to be in better shape now than when he first injured his hand.
He wasn’t on a scale, but to the naked eye he appears to have lost weight since he went down with the injury just about a month ago.
When he left to go to Florida after the surgery he was telling teammates that he’d not just be back before the end of the regular season, but that he’d be in better shape when he comes back than went he left.
Nothing can prepare anyone for playing in real games and it will probably take a while for him to get some rhythm when he does return. But if there were any concerns about O’Neal letting himself go because he’s not playing, take it from me — it appears to have been quite the opposite.
When we learned that O’Neal was going to miss significant time due to thumb surgery, his overall conditioning was a huge concern, no pun intended. While cardio-vascular conditioning is different from overall weight, it’s a lot easier to get back into playing shape if you’re not carrying around 10-20 lbs of extra weight. And it appears that Shaq has been serious about his conditioning while he’s been injured.
If true, this is a big boost for the Cavs’ title hopes (and chances of retaining LeBron this summer).
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It looks like Shaquille O’Neal’s regular season may be over.
Now the Cavaliers hope the center they acquired for the postseason will be back in time for the playoffs.
O’Neal will undergo surgery Monday to repair his injured right thumb. He was examined Sunday by Dr. Thomas Graham at the National Hand Center in Baltimore. Graham will perform the surgery.
The Cavaliers said they will update a timeline for his return following the procedure, but a typical recovery period is 6 to 8 weeks. There are seven weeks left in the regular season.
With 22 games to play, the Cavs have a six-game lead on Orlando, so I don’t think they’re in any danger of giving up the top seed in the East. The greater concern to me is what kind of shape Shaq will be in when he returns to action. Six or seven weeks is a long time for a person with his weight issues to be sidelined, and he’s already looking a little heavy. While a thumb injury shouldn’t keep him off the treadmill, he doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy that is going to bust his butt to stay in top physical condition.
The Cavs may very well find their groove without Shaq in the lineup, and then his return could throw a monkey wrench into the machine. The good news is that he would return during the first or second round of the playoffs, so there would potentially be a series or two for him to work the kinks out. I think the greater concern is how his return would affect the way the Cavs play offensively.
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LeBron James posted 33 points, nine rebounds and six assists, and Antawn Jamison bounced back from a dreadful Cav debut with a nice 19-point, eight-rebound effort, but the Magic supporting cast came up big in the fourth quarter to give Orlando a 101-95 win.
Jameer Nelson (18-4-5) and Vince Carter (11-1-3) hit several big shots in the final period, and Rashard Lewis (15-4-2) hit a corner three that sealed the win for the Magic. Dwight Howard (22-16, 4 blks) did his usual damage early on, but Orlando went away from him in the fourth quarter, using a series of Nelson-Carter pick-and-rolls to free Carter up on the block.
Shaq (20-5, 2 blks) had a nice game and was seemingly energized by his feud with Howard about who deserves to have the nickname “Superman.” But with both big men such poor foul shooters, neither team threw the ball inside much in the fourth quarter.
Jamison proved his worth with a nine-point spurt to start the third quarter that gave the Cavs the lead. He’s going to be fine in Cleveland’s offense once he gets comfortable. He’s a tough cover for most power forwards, but as Jeff Van Gundy noted, he’s not nearly as tough to defend when he’s playing small forward. (The same goes for Rashard Lewis, who is far more productive at PF.)
LeBron, coming off of back-to-back losses, seemed especially grumpy today, and was complaining just about every time he took the ball to the hoop and didn’t get the call. I think he has entered what I call the “Kobe Zone,” the convergence of talent and ego where a player thinks he can’t be stopped without a foul, so every failed drive to the basket finishes with some signal to the officials that they missed the call. LeBron took the ball into Dwight Howard twice — once in the first half and once in the fourth quarter — and both times he lit into the refs. On the first play, Howard was planted in the middle of the lane and LeBron clipped him as he went by, and it was a good no-call. The fourth quarter no-call consisted of LeBron taking it directly into Howard’s body and raised arms as Howard retreated towards the basket. The ball got knocked out of bounds and LeBron made his sour pickle face and screamed at the refs.
But if the Cavs want an answer for what went wrong today, they need to look at their backcourt. Mo Williams (1-9), Anthony Parker (1-4) and Delonte West (2-9) combined to go 4-22 (18%) from the field, and that’s not going to get it done.
I’m not a professional lip reader, but after LeBron James took five or six straight jumpers in the fourth quarter (hitting most of them), Shaq came up to him at a timeout and said, “Go to the f**kin’ hole.” On the next possession, LeBron did just that and threw the ball out of bounds. But two plays later with under a minute to play in a tie game, LeBron attacked the glass in secondary transition and gave the Cavs a two point lead.
Kobe Bryant sat for the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter, and when he finally came in, he was ice cold, missing four of his five shots in the final period. Pau Gasol also played weak inside and missed several shots from close range. After LeBron’s driving layup, Gasol had a chance to tie the game with 0:24 to play, but missed both free throws. (He’s an 86% shooter on the season.) Cleveland just showed more toughness down the stretch.
It was an impressive win for the Cavs, who were playing without (arguably) their second best player, Mo Williams, who will be sidelined 4-6 weeks with a separated shoulder.
One thing that struck me as odd: After Gasol missed those free throws, LeBron was on the sideline lip-syncing all of the lyrics to a Eminem song — almost to the point when the ref threw him the ball. I realize he’s just trying to have a good time, but the old schooler in me just shakes his head. A few moments later he went to the line and missed one of his free throws.
Still, it’s hard to complain about a guy who just posted 37-9-5 against the defending champs.
Update: Here’s video of LeBron doing his rap…
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