<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">CLEVELAND ? Day 2 of the Heat's three-game road trip offered no certainty as to whether center Shaquille O'Neal would play Saturday in Cleveland or Sunday in New Jersey. O'Neal was a late scratch from Wednesday's 98-94 victory in Toronto because of a hyperextended left knee. He said he thinks he was hurt when he was kicked in Monday's victory against Indiana, but he was not sure. The Heat did not practice Thursday. In the fourth quarter Wednesday, O'Neal was joined on the bench by starters Jason Williams and James Posey. Coach Pat Riley has frequently kept Williams and Posey out of the fourth quarter, and neither played one minute in the period as the Heat overcame a 13-point deficit in the final 10:24. Forward Antoine Walker, who specializes in offense, and guard Gary Payton, who specializes in defense, played the entire fourth quarter while the remaining minutes were split among forward Shandon Anderson (9:47), guard Dwyane Wade (7:57), rookie forward Wayne Simien (6:16), guard Derek Anderson (6:16) and forward Udonis Haslem (5:44). Riley has been consistent in starting Wade and Williams in the backcourt with Haslem, Posey and O'Neal, assuming all are healthy. But in the last two months Riley has been freely changing his finishing lineups. Only Wade and O'Neal are sure to be on the court. "I'm going more by feel than anything else," Riley said. Williams had one of his worst games of the season Wednesday, with no points on 0-for-3 shooting, three assists and one turnover in 25 minutes. Toronto guard Mike James (19 points, 12 assists) burned Williams for most of the night. Posey finished with seven points (on 2-for-7 shooting) and three rebounds in 18 minutes. Toronto rookie Charlie Villanueva got a lot of his 13 points and 13 rebounds at Posey's expense, taking another bite out of Posey's reputation as a defensive hawk. In the Heat's 15 games in March, Posey averaged just 21.5 minutes, basically what a reserve plays, and got fourth-quarter minutes just three times. "We always have to be the ones to give us a little energy," Payton said of the reserves.</div> Source
