<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">MIAMI (AP) -- Heat center Shaquille O'Neal will miss two to four weeks with a sprained right ankle, adding to the team's early-season injury woes. O'Neal flew with his team to Milwaukee on Friday, shortly after learning results of an MRI exam performed earlier in the day. The team said earlier he was listed as day-to-day; a formal announcement of the updated diagnosis was expected after the team's arrival in Milwaukee. The news, first reported by The Miami Herald on its Web site, probably wasn't surprising to teammates, who seemed resigned to playing without the 12-time All-Star after seeing him hobble and grimace after Thursday's 105-102 loss to Indiana. ``He's the most dominant player in the game,'' Heat forward Udonis Haslem said Thursday night. ``If you don't have him it definitely hurts you. At the same time, the other guys have the opportunity to step up.'' O'Neal was getting in position for an offensive rebound when he stepped on Ron Artest's foot and rolled the ankle midway through the fourth quarter of the Heat's loss to the Pacers. X-rays did not reveal a fracture, but the 7-foot-1, 340-pound O'Neal left the arena on crutches. Heat coach Stan Van Gundy said after the game that he expected O'Neal ``to miss some time.'' O'Neal did not speak with reporters, and the team had no media availability before traveling on Friday. ``You never want one of your best players going down with an injury,'' Van Gundy said. ``It's all also part of the game. We're already dealing with three veteran guys out, now a fourth veteran guy out, so some of these young guys are going to have to step up and play.'' </div> Source
There are some positives for the Heat with Shaq out of the lineup. 1) It happened early in the season instead of playoff time. 2) The Heat can learn to win without Shaq and play a more uptempo style now and get some chemistry going. 3) Earl Barron will get a lot of playing time and experience. Both Zo and Shaq are injury prone, so having Barron as insurance could payoff if either get injured later on in the season. So far the Heat have been hit with key injuries, Posey, Doleac, Anderson, and now the Big Fella.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting amador08:</div><div class="quote_post">He wont come back strong hes old and its going to take him awhile to heal.</div> It's just a sprained ankle, Shaq will be fine. He didn't damage any ligaments, but sprains just take time to heal. Shaq has committed to being in bette shape since the trade, so he'll be back once the ankle swelling has stopped.
I'm glad it's only a sprain and nothing worse...hopfully he'll be back and healthy <font size="1"><font color="red">For future reference, please use proper spelling/grammar and punctuation . ~ Banks</font></font>
this team can still do well without Shaq because they have Flash and Zo is a top 5 center in the East also Toine will get more shots and also with Posey coming back I still think we will have one of the top records when he comes back.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">There are some positives for the Heat with Shaq out of the lineup. 1) It happened early in the season instead of playoff time. 2) The Heat can learn to win without Shaq and play a more uptempo style now and get some chemistry going. 3) Earl Barron will get a lot of playing time and experience. Both Zo and Shaq are injury prone, so having Barron as insurance could payoff if either get injured later on in the season. So far the Heat have been hit with key injuries, Posey, Doleac, Anderson, and now the Big Fella.</div> You hit it right on, Shape. I think the most important part is the fact that the rest of the team can get some chemistry going on early in the season, and get to learn how to play without Shaq. It's likely to me that Shaq will sit out some games later on in the late part of the season due to some minor injury, so they'll know how to play without him. Let's not get it twisted, this is not a good thing at all, but if the Heat can learn how to play without Shaq now, it'll fare well for us later on in the season.
maybe if Shaq misses the rest of the season he will, but no way he will be better when the Deisel comes back.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting amador08:</div><div class="quote_post">He wont come back strong hes old and its going to take him awhile to heal.</div> Don't mind him, he's a known Shaq-hater. Age has nothing to do with it, it's an ankle sprain. Let's see you weigh 340 lbs and land on someone else's foot.
why isn't anyone bringing up the fact that it was ron artest in his second game back that resulted in the shaq injury. remember a little while ago when he broke Jordan's ribs in a pick up game? i'm not saying he does it on purpose but i'd be careful if i was playing close to artest.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Johnnybrasco:</div><div class="quote_post">why isn't anyone bringing up the fact that it was ron artest in his second game back that resulted in the shaq injury. remember a little while ago when he broke Jordan's ribs in a pick up game? i'm not saying he does it on purpose but i'd be careful if i was playing close to artest.</div> Tru Not saying Artest did anything on purpose tho. It's just bad luck. Also, notice Walker took that ill-advised shot. Only if he had passed the ball a lil more in a night he struggled shooting, Shaq would be fine by now. Like Shape said, it's good that now we learn to play without Shaq and i think i'll be very interesting.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Johnnybrasco:</div><div class="quote_post">why isn't anyone bringing up the fact that it was ron artest in his second game back that resulted in the shaq injury. remember a little while ago when he broke Jordan's ribs in a pick up game? i'm not saying he does it on purpose but i'd be careful if i was playing close to artest.</div> Frankly, Shaq landing on Artest's foot is nothing more than a coincidence.
What about poor Artest's foot...........I honestly don't think someone would purposely put their toes under a 7'1 900 pound plus Giant....LOL
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">why isn't anyone bringing up the fact that it was ron artest in his second game back that resulted in the shaq injury. remember a little while ago when he broke Jordan's ribs in a pick up game? i'm not saying he does it on purpose but i'd be careful if i was playing close to artest</div> That may be one of the main reasons people like Ron Artest and Bruce Bowen are so effective in defense - they will play kinda "dirty" and make you scared that they might injure you. Anyway back to the subject, I think the Heat will learn to be more interdependent and not so much relying on their stars, Dwyane Wade and Shaq. I still find it odd that Wade has more assists than Jason Williams...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting THE DREAM:</div><div class="quote_post">Would I be insane for saying that I predict Yao will be better than Shaq this year????</div> yes
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Johnnybrasco:</div><div class="quote_post">why isn't anyone bringing up the fact that it was ron artest in his second game back that resulted in the shaq injury. remember a little while ago when he broke Jordan's ribs in a pick up game? i'm not saying he does it on purpose but i'd be careful if i was playing close to artest.</div> Chill out and stop making nothing into something. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting WadeDynasty:</div><div class="quote_post">Tru Not saying Artest did anything on purpose tho. It's just bad luck. Also, notice Walker took that ill-advised shot. Only if he had passed the ball a lil more in a night he struggled shooting, Shaq would be fine by now. Like Shape said, it's good that now we learn to play without Shaq and i think i'll be very interesting.</div> Yea, but Walker takes bad shots all the time, how was he supposed to know that was gonna lead to the injury of the best player on the team?
The Heat lost again to an impressive Bucks. The Heat really need to get their team playing together as a team. Dwayne Wade and the rest of the Heat really need to cut down on the turnovers, they had a total of 17 against the Bucks and Wade is averaging over 5 this season so far.
