Way not to lead a team, Mr. Shaq

[Rummpd]

Dominant player of all time my a*^. Without your sidekick of Wade you are not the same player of the past (and one does not forget that you have yet to win a championship without Kobe's heroics in the 4th quarters and/or Phil in a long career.)

Duncan minus Parker or Wade would not "mail it in".

NBA TV just called him coming back in game = stat padding and called him out for 4 OR last two games.

[T Park]

uhh, Shaq didnt "mail it in"

his teammates stunk period....

[1Parker1]

uhh, Shaq didnt "mail it in"

his teammates stunk period....

How about credit to the Detroit Defense??

[MannyIsGod]

This has to be one of your most ridiculous posts. The fact is that the team starts and ends with Wade. Shaq IS incredibly dominant when 100%, somehting he has not been in the entirety of the playoffs.

And if you think Duncan without Parker and Manu has a chance in hell in beating a team like Detroit, you obviously have not watched very many of their games.

[Rummpd]

Lots of credit to Detroit but one cannot have it both ways on Shaq as most dominant ever. Shaq is "supposed to be their MVP" and most dominant player according to some ever. Ok step up and win a game missing one of your sidekicks one time when it counts. Also, NBA TV rightfully called him out for "stat padding". He ended up with fairly notable stats but just could not lead team period and Detroit got 14 more OR than Heat.

I will say again, Duncan would not have lost by 25 points or so with any missing player when has a chance to close out a series.

[Chris]

On the same note we would not have lost by 25 without Duncan which we have proven this year. We can win games without Duncan but not many :p

[MannyIsGod]

Shaq is freaking hurt!!!

[duncan_21]

1. Shaq was hurt
2. the refs weren't doing the heat any favors in the first quarter
3. e. jones didn't show up either

I don't like shaq but it's had to talk smack when he's pretty injured.

[mavsfan1000]

He looks badly out of shape right now. He gets winded easily and stops attacking after the 1st quarter.

[missmyzte]

The best part of the game was seeing the 2 guys in Kobe Bryant jerseys cheering for Detroit. That just had to kill Shaq! :lol

[TDMVPDPOY]

Spurs without manu n parker, they can still win this pistons team, spurs will give them a run for the money, barry/brown/udrih/rasho/nazr/bowen/horry is a good solid team enough, even with a duncan 2 bum ankles

[xcoriate]

^^ haha

even the "good" laker fans a re a tad bitter :)

[Rummpd]

MannyisGod: Shaq if he is indeed still hurt has a very unusual injury = deep thigh bruises just do not take over a month and half to heal. He has seemingly milked this injury long enough, no way he is as limited by that as Duncan has been with his ankles.

The truth is that Shaq for all his around the rim brilliance has long been a protected player by getting away with constant offensive and defensive fouls, has a limited range, and would not have and will not win anything ever without another top 5 player sidekick with him. If Wade is not back to at least close to his usual greatness by game 7, he and Miami are toast. By the way, at the time Duncan won his two titles (David Robinson, although still a great player was not longer in that category).

Shaq may or may not come up big in game 7. I for one, believe whatever he does now will not matter and that Pistons will win series - a result I did not want. I wanted to see Duncan outplay him in the finals.

[shaq_nd_d-wade=win]

On the same note we would not have lost by 25 without Duncan which we have proven this year. We can win games without Duncan but not many :p




i bet u cant win without duncan against the pistons. they have the best defence in the league. they will smother you if u dont have ur all-star just like they did 2 us last night. yea we can win without wade against the bucks or bobcats or any non-playoff team but when it comes down 2 playoffs its not the same

[Mr. Body]

Shaq supposedly makes the players around him better. I learned this several times from ESPN. Except, of course, when he doesn't.

[mavsfan1000]

Wade is the one that makes everyone better. Even without Shaq Miami has had some success.

[missmyzte]

^^ haha

even the "good" laker fans a re a tad bitter :)

Yes, yes I am. I know it and will admit it. :drunk

[zedman]

i bet u cant win without duncan against the pistons. they have the best defence in the league. they will smother you if u dont have ur all-star just like they did 2 us last night. yea we can win without wade against the bucks or bobcats or any non-playoff team but when it comes down 2 playoffs its not the same

Pistons may have the best D in the East, but the Spurs have that best D in the league, going by the stats. Piston's actually tied the Spurs for best D last season, but the Pistons fell to #2 this season.

.................# Games Points Allowed
-------------------------------------
1 San Antonio 82 88.39
2 Detroit 82 89.46

[MannyIsGod]

MannyisGod: Shaq if he is indeed still hurt has a very unusual injury = deep thigh bruises just do not take over a month and half to heal. He has seemingly milked this injury long enough, no way he is as limited by that as Duncan has been with his ankles.

The truth is that Shaq for all his around the rim brilliance has long been a protected player by getting away with constant offensive and defensive fouls, has a limited range, and would not have and will not win anything ever without another top 5 player sidekick with him. If Wade is not back to at least close to his usual greatness by game 7, he and Miami are toast. By the way, at the time Duncan won his two titles (David Robinson, although still a great player was not longer in that category).

Shaq may or may not come up big in game 7. I for one, believe whatever he does now will not matter and that Pistons will win series - a result I did not want. I wanted to see Duncan outplay him in the finals.
Shaq's bruise just won't go away

By Bob LaMendola
Health Writer
Posted May 17 2005


Predicting when Shaquille O'Neal's deep thigh bruise will heal is like predicting whether the Heat will play Detroit or Indiana next week. It depends on many things.

How deep is the bruise? How much did the bruise bleed inside the muscle? How fast is Shaq absorbing the fluids from swelling? The bottom line, sports doctors say, is that deep bruises and the pain they cause can crimp the leg's abilities for weeks or even months.


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"There's no way to say how long, really," said Dr. George Caldwell, a team doctor for the Dolphins and Marlins. "You really have to go by the timetable the body gives you. There's no sense setting dates. The vast majority of them, given enough time, the body takes care of itself."

Deep thigh bruises result from blunt trauma to one or more of the four muscles that make up the quadriceps, at the front of the thigh. In O'Neal's case, his right thigh collided with the knee of Pacers forward Jermaine O'Neal on April 17.

The trauma damages the tissue, may break some of the many small blood vessels in the muscle mass and causes swelling, all of which restrict the leg's ability to flex.

"The biggest problem is stiffness, flexing your leg. You got one leg that just doesn't fire right," said former Dolphins linebacker Kim Bokamper, who was sidelined for several weeks with a thigh bruise. "Until you get all your flexibility back, you don't get your strength back."

The treatments help but not dramatically, doctors said. Trainers ice the thigh to reduce the swelling, give massages to prevent stiffening, run a program of stretching to keep the muscles limber and administer electrical stimulation to keep the muscle flexing.

"The quad can shut down. You can lose an inch off the muscle [size] in a month," said Dr. Paul Meli, a Fort Lauderdale sports medicine specialist.

The worst case in deep bruises is if blood remains trapped and then calcifies or hardens into a mass in the middle of the muscle. The knots linger and cause more pain, doctors said, but this happens only rarely, when an injury has been ignored.

Caldwell said doctors often urge athletes not to play on a deep bruise until they are 80 percent recovered. O'Neal may have aggravated his thigh by coming back too soon, but he will face that risk until he can get weeks or a month of uninterrupted rest, Caldwell said.

NOTE: Do you think he's had a month of rest?

"It's always a gamble when they come back," Caldwell said. "You want them to be recovered enough so that the odds of reinjuring the leg are very low."

O'Neal had a similar injury in January 1996, missing four games with the Orlando Magic because of a deep bruise in his left thigh.

Bill Guerin of the NHL's Dallas Stars missed two months with a deep thigh bruise in 2003. Eric Crouch, the former Heisman Trophy winner, missed several weeks before leaving the St. Louis Rams in 2002.




I realize you dislike Shaq, but your criticism is pretty ridiculous.

[boutons]

"very unusual injury = deep thigh bruises just do not take over a month and half to heal"

Hey Rump Doctor, did you hear that his contusion was still bleeding up to a couple of weeks ago, and needed draining, a few tens of cc's, twice about that time? That there was mention of calcification?

I am certainly not his nor anybody's doctor, but the noise around Shaq's contusion doesn't make it sound like your gardren variety bruise.

[duncan_21]

Pistons may have the best D in the East, but the Spurs have that best D in the league, going by the stats. Piston's actually tied the Spurs for best D last season, but the Pistons fell to #2 this season.

.................# Games Points Allowed
-------------------------------------
1 San Antonio 82 88.39
2 Detroit 82 89.46

You also have to remember who the pistons play too. The spurs play a bunch of juggernauts while the pistons play against alot of bad teams.

[mavsfan1000]

Pistons have no chance against the spurs and neither do Miami. Miami if healthy is a better team than Detroit. Unlike Indiana Miami was actually getting better game by game and was very hard to beat at the end of the season. If Wade and Shaq aren't healthy Detroit should win game 7.

[Mr. Body]

I also don't believe all the hype about Shaq's thigh. What, did he get kicked by a horse? Several times?

There's something else going on here.

[1Parker1]

I also don't believe all the hype about Shaq's thigh. What, did he get kicked by a horse? Several times?

There's something else going on here.


Well, if you consider Jermaine O'neal a horse, then, Yes. :lol

[Chris]

Every year its another injury for Shaq. Last year his toe was hurting! awwww
Now, a bruise :wow Manu has like 590,642 of those. He scored 24 points and led his team "in scoring". But losing by 25 points in the Eastern Conference Finals is inexcusable. Didn't watch the game but by looking at the numbers those "underrated" Miami Heat bench and role players didn't do shit.

R.Butler 5-11 13 points
D.Jones 3-7 7 points
U.Haslem 3-5 8 points
E.Jones 1-9 3 points
K.Dooling 3-8 10 points
A. Mourning 0-2 1 point