Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 26, 1995 TAG: 9510260057
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ORLANDO, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
Shaquille O'Neal will have surgery on his broken right thumb and may be sidelined until just before New Year's.
``I want to be playing by Christmas, but I'm not going to rush anything,'' O'Neal said Wednesday. ``My team is good enough to where they can hold their own without me.''
The 7-foot center who led the Orlando Magic to the NBA Finals last season is to have an operation today, a minor procedure to repair a piece of the bone in his thumb.
``He will be out of competitive basketball for approximately six to eight weeks after surgery,'' Dr. Richard Shure of the Jewett Orthopaedic Clinic said Wednesday after examining O'Neal.
O'Neal said his thumb was bent back flat Tuesday night when he was raked across the hand by Miami center Matt Geiger on a move to the basket in the second quarter of the Magic's 106-91 exhibition victory.
Geiger was not called for a foul. In fact, O'Neal was called for traveling as he spun along the baseline and went for what looked like a dunk.
Immediately after the injury, O'Neal was furious and threatened to ``show ... some of my Shaq-Fu stuff'' to any other player who put a similar move on him.
By Wednesday, O'Neal had cooled off.
``It's not a matter of getting revenge anymore, it happened and now it's over,'' O'Neal said. ``But somebody needs to do something. I think some coaches tell their players to come in and chop me and hope I get mad and throw a punch or something and get thrown out. I guess that's a good tactic, but it's not right.
``I've got to be able to protect myself.''
Geiger said the Heat's strategy was to foul O'Neal if he got the ball in too close.
``It was a just a normal foul,'' he said. ``There was nothing personal about it.''
Added the Heat's Billy Owens: ``You're going to get fouled because he's not a good free-throw shooter. You got to expect that.''
There was no word how the Magic will fill the center spot although they signed veteran Jon Koncak as O'Neal's backup during the off-season.
``Obviously I'm not going to provide the offense that Shaquille did, but that's not why they brought me here,'' Koncak said. ``I came here to help with the defense and rebounding and step in if there was an emergency.''
O'Neal was averaging 22.8 points a game in the preseason.
In his three seasons, O'Neal has missed only three games because of injury. Last season he averaged 29.3 points, 11.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks to lead the Magic to the Eastern Conference championship and the finals for the first time.
``Everyone on this team would rather be playing with Shaquille than without him, but it's no use talking about what you don't have,'' Magic coach Brian Hill said.
``We've got to have our guys elevate their game some and go with what we have.''
by CNB