<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'></p> <div class="bi">Riley: Shaq Needs To Play</div> <div><span style="font-style: italic">Oct 10</span> - Heat coach Pat Riley said it is not his philosophy to sit the veterans until the regular season and insisted, specifically with Shaquille O'Neal, that "he needs to play some games and play them well" in the pre-season. "That's the tough thing for me. You want to have all your troops on deck. You need everybody in there together," Riley said. "If I had everybody healthy, you'd have a mix and match."</p> </p> O'Neal said he is open to Riley playing him today.</p> </p> "I'm here. I'm ready to go, so whatever," O'Neal said. -- <font color="#000000">Palm Beach Post</font></p> </p> </p> [*]There are no conditioning issues with O'Neal and the left knee tendinitis doesn't seem to be a major concern. So Riley said he wants O'Neal, one of four regulars to miss Monday's loss at Detroit, to play in one of the six remaining exhibition games before the Nov. 1 regular-season opener. "He needs to play some games and play them well and also see how we are going to do with him with these other guys," Riley said. "We have to</p> get him healthy, but we have to get him out there, too." -- <font color="#000000">South Florida Sun-Sentinel</font></p></div> </div>
