Miami – Whether Miami Heat center Shaquille O’Neal will have a chance to play like a gem or not at all tonight against the reigning NBA champion Detroit Pistons in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals remains uncertain.
A deep right thigh bruise forced O’Neal to miss the last two games of the four-game Eastern Conference semifinals against Washington. He hasn’t played since May 10.
The 7-foot-1, 327-pounder practiced Saturday for the first time in 11 days. But he didn’t practice Sunday, sticking to cardio work and shooting because he “didn’t want to take any chances.”
O’Neal said Sunday he was not sure he would play tonight.
“I’m used to being the good- looking Shaq, so anything that doesn’t look good is not worth looking at,” O’Neal said. “Right now, I’m a high-class diamond that is getting mistaken for a cubic zirconium.”
O’Neal was injured April 17 when he was inadvertently kneed by Indiana’s Jermaine O’Neal while defending a drive to the basket.
The injury caused O’Neal to miss the Heat’s final two regular-season games, but he played in the first-round series against New Jersey and averaged 33 minutes per game. He played the first two games against Washington before sitting out Game 3 and Game 4, the first time he missed a postseason game in his 13-year career.
He averaged 22.9 points and 10.4 rebounds during the regular season and has averages of 18 points and 8.2 rebounds so far in the playoffs. The layoff also makes conditioning a concern, and he is expected to wear protection over the injury when he plays.
“I’m going to have to wake up (today) and see what I can do,” O’Neal said. “Hopefully, it’s going to be ready for me to go out and perform up to my potential.”
While O’Neal is not sure he will play, the Pistons are.
“That’s what Shaq wants y’all to think, that he’s hurting,” the Pistons’ Ben Wallace recently told reporters in Michigan. “Shaq is going to be ready to play. Don’t keep feeding into that. There’s nothing wrong with Shaq.”
Said Detroit’s Rasheed Wallace: “It doesn’t matter if he’s 100 percent, 55 percent, he’s still going to demand that double team and special attention. To me, he’s the greatest player on earth.”
If O’Neal is not able to play, the Heat will turn to veteran center Alonzo Mourning.
In Game 3 against Washington, Mourning contributed 14 points and 13 rebounds in 35 minutes. But in Game 4, he was scoreless after taking one shot and grabbing seven rebounds in 18 minutes.
Regardless, Mourning said he will be ready.
“You know how long I’ve been playing, times I’ve started?” asked Mourning, a 13-year pro from Georgetown. “It doesn’t matter. Right now, it’s the Eastern Conference finals. Shaq knows we need him out there on the floor. So regardless of what the situation is, everybody is going to step up and we’re going to play.”
With or without O’Neal, there will be more pressure on Heat guard Dwyane Wade. Wade is averaging 28.6 points in the postseason, but scored only five points and fouled out in 21 minutes of an 80-72 loss to Detroit on April 10.
“We’ve played 97 games together, including the preseason, so we’re not worried about that,” Wade said. “The only thing we’re worried about is (O’Neal’s) health. Hopefully, his conditioning is as good as it can be at this time. Just having him out there, that’s all we want. We won without him for two (playoff) games (against Washington). But we’d rather have our big guy down low on the court.”
The most recent time O’Neal played against the Pistons in the postseason was the 2004 NBA Finals while with the Los Angeles Lakers. O’Neal averaged 42.6 minutes, 26.6 points and 10.8 rebounds in that series, but the Pistons knocked off the Lakers in five games.
O’Neal expects another tough series against the Pistons, who won the regular-season series with the Heat 2-1.
“We know it’s not going to be a cakewalk,” O’Neal said. “We’ll be ready either way.”
Marc J. Spears can be reached at 303-820-5449 or mspears@denverpost.com.
