Celtics centre Shaquille O’Neal will be sidelined for Wednesday night’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks with a bruised right knee. O’Neal, signed as a free agent during the off-season, was injured in a collision with New York’s Amare Stoudemire in last Friday’s win. It’s the second straight game he will miss.
O’Neal averaged 8.7 points and 5.3 rebounds in Boston’s first three games. Boston coach Doc Rivers said Jermaine O’Neal would start in his place.
“Just watching him move, he didn’t move very well today,” Rivers said of Shaq. When asked if he could play in Friday’s game against the Chicago Bulls, Rivers said: “I don’t think so, going by what I saw so far.”
Off the court, O’Neal has been a steady stream of entertainment. For Halloween, he dressed as a seven-foot-one, 345-pound woman named “Shaquita.” Before the season opener, he was a statue at Harvard.
He nicknamed himself “The Big Shamrock” after he signed. On the court, he’s been a solid replacement for centre Kendrick Perkins, who is expected to be sidelined until January after off-season right knee surgery.
