[miami herald] Shaq hamstrung in Miami debut?

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/basketball/10075433.htm


Shaq hamstrung in Miami debut?

BY ISRAEL GUTIERREZ

igutierrez@herald.com


While his coach was yelling and directing, and while his teammates were running, hustling and sweating, Shaquille O'Neal was standing still, watching from the sideline once again. It's where Stan Van Gundy has seen O'Neal far too often, and far too late into the preparation process.

O'Neal missed his fourth consecutive practice Monday, just two days before the season opener against the New Jersey Nets, with a strained left hamstring that kept him out of three preseason games. He was believed to have reaggravated the injury in the Heat's preseason finale against the Magic last Wednesday, and now his status for Wednesday's regular-season opener against the New Jersey Nets is in question.

Van Gundy said he doesn't know if O'Neal will practice today.

''I'm at the point now where I don't know because I would've said that I expected him [Monday], so now I don't have any idea,'' Van Gundy said of O'Neal's availability for practice today. ``I don't know about [the opener] either. I don't have any way of knowing about that. I know that his expectation is that he'll be ready to play.''

O'Neal did not address the media Monday because he had to attend a league-mandated meeting. Van Gundy seemed irritated with the fact O'Neal did not practice again because the team has precious little time to grow as a unit before the regular season.

`A CONCERN'

''It's more of a concern, yes,'' Van Gundy said. ``We thought we'd have him back full today, but we didn't. It's a concern from the sense that, obviously his health is the biggest thing, and then the second thing is we haven't practiced with him in a long, long time. That, in terms of our offensive work, affects a lot of what we're doing, and we haven't worked on it at all.

``Offensively, we just need to play together, work together, which is why Shaq's time out is a concern. He played in the Orlando game, but he didn't practice the day before the Charlotte game, didn't play in the Charlotte game, didn't practice in the three days we came back last week and didn't practice [Monday]. It's tough to come together when you don't have guys out there practicing.''

O'NEAL CONFIDENT

O'Neal, who said Sunday on ESPN that he was down to 327 pounds, did take part in defensive drills in the early portion of practice but couldn't do full-court work. He has maintained all along that he will be ready for the opener, and that being healthy for the regular season is his primary concern.

O'Neal has missed 15 games in each of the past three years, bringing to question his durability. Van Gundy said last week that O'Neal's hamstring improved significantly. But playing 33 minutes against the Magic seemed to set him back. Van Gundy said he doesn't expect O'Neal to miss the opening game, but if O'Neal does, Van Gundy is confident his team will handle it well.

''The guys that we have coming back from last year, and even the guys we brought, veteran guys, they know you play a lot of nights without your entire lineup,'' Van Gundy said. ``I don't think anybody would be deflated at all. I think Shaq would be deflated, but I don't expect that to happen. I expect him to play. But if it did happen, I think he'd be disappointed and we'd all be disappointed, but I don't think anybody would be deflated.''

The Heat opens the season with three games in four nights, which includes back-to-back games Wednesday and Thursday. Van Gundy said so far he has no intention of monitoring O'Neal's minutes in those situations.

TAKING IT IN STRIDE

''I'll take everything as it goes, but that's an NBA schedule,'' Van Gundy said. ``He has played an NBA schedule for 12 years. You have to play three in four nights and four in five nights, and you have to play back-to-backs. That's the way it is. You want to be a player in this league and be the guy, you have to play in those situations.''