<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Jermaine O'Neal recently rolled both ankles. He's wearing a brace on his strained left knee. And he popped a blood vessel in his left hand. The Indiana Pacers forward will still be in the starting lineup for tonight's game at Charlotte. He also wants to play in all 82 games this season. But the constant pounding in the post from having to fill in for the team's injured centers has started to take a toll. "The only minus of me playing center is that it wears on my body a little bit," he said. "I'm already getting double teamed and people are sitting on me on the defensive end. "I don't necessarily like playing center because I'm able to roam more at the four (power forward) position. What's happening now is that I'm still roaming, but we really don't have that center to help. I have to be able to adjust to the situations and find a way to get through this." O'Neal has played center at times in the past, but it has been his primary position this season because of injuries to David Harrison, Scot Pollard and Jeff Foster, the projected starter. Pollard is back after recovering from a calf injury. Harrison could play tonight after missing the past two games with a back injury. Foster is out for at least another week. O'Neal started his first game of the season at power forward against Milwaukee on Saturday, but he knows he will still spend ample time at center. He's shooting 39.6 percent from the field the past three games after shooting at least 50 percent in the first three games. "There's no question that playing the five is more physically taxing than the four," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. "At the five, you're going to be grinding. We hope at some point we can get back to the other way where he's playing mostly at the four spot." O'Neal doesn't like playing the position because he doesn't see himself as a true center despite being 6-11 and weighing a solid 260 pounds. "I look at him as a forward myself," Carlisle said. "When you look at centers, you look at bigger, thicker, more lumbering-type players. He's anything but that. The fact he has the ability to use his quickness against bigger guys is a real plus."</div> Source
