Shaq Practices, But will He be Back to Playing Soon | IXGAMES

It has been two weeks since star player Shaquille O’Neal of the Cleveland Cavaliers has seen action in an NBA match.  Last November 12, he sustained a shoulder injury after trying to block a dunk from Michael Beasley in a match against his former team, the Miami Heat.  Shaq did not clarify to the press which rotator cuff was in pain.  He asked the team physicians for a cortisone injection to ease the pain of his ailing shoulder.  Instead of complying with the request, the team advised him to rest, as well as undergo a medical rehab program for 10 days. The team’s performance without O’Neal Because of the 10-day vacation, O’Neal missed five games.  Without Shaq, the team managed to score four wins and drop only one game.  In these five games, two other Cavaliers sustained injuries: Jamario Moon had a sprained ankle, while Anderson Varejao suffered from a hip contusion.  During Shaq’s absence, LeBron James lorded the eastern conference, averaging 34.3 points, winning him the “player of the week” award of the Eastern Conference, a title which O’Neal has gotten since this season started. Shaq’s return Finally, O’Neal returned to practice with his team. It is O’Neal’s wish to return to full playing form when Cleveland tackles the Pistons in Detroit. After Detroit, Cleveland, expecting to sport a healthier squad, will play against Charlotte and Dallas. Shaq lavished his team’s management praises, and was quoted as saying that the Cavaliers is a “great organization” by ignoring his pleas of giving him an injection when he was screaming in pain and instead letting him fully recover.  O’Neal claimed that he was refused by the staff a number of times when he asked for the cortisone shot.  He thought that since his shoulder was not really broken, he could still play if the pain was just numbed.  The team instead chose to let him feel better altogether, thus, making them go “above board,” says O’Neal. On the team’s part, Mike Brown, the Cavaliers coach, stated that if they had pushed O’Neal further, they would have risked further injury, which could have only worsened the player’s condition and would have disallowed him from playing for a longer period.  He said that he and his team did not want to rush any player back in the game.  Given that the NBA season is still in its early stages, it made perfect sense to let Shaq rest first.  But he also asserted that even if the injury happened late in the season, the same would have been done as it is the players’ well-being that is most important to them.  They also have no doubt that since Shaq has had time to fully recuperate, he’ll step back to his old form in no time.