Golden State Warriors Jermaine O’Neal Injury Update: Dirty Play By Big Baby?

Golden State Warriors Jermaine O’Neal Injury Update: Dirty Play By Big Baby? (Photo: DimeMag)

UPDATE AT MORNING SHOOTAROUND ON DAY OF GAME 7:

Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle:

Even if O’Neal can’t play Saturday, Jackson indicated that injured centers Andrew Bogut (rib) and Festus Ezeli (knee) are still not healthy enough to play.

RT @diamond83: Jermaine O'Neal said he has not run since being injured and would probably play with a knee brace.

— LetsGoWarriors (@LetsGoWarriors) May 3, 2014

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UPDATE AS OF SHOOTAROUND, ONE DAY BEFORE GAME 7:

MRI revealed a bone bruise on @jermaineoneal's right knee cap. O'Neal is listed as questionable for tomorrow's Game 7 in Los Angeles.

— Golden St. Warriors (@warriors) May 3, 2014

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In Game 6 last night, Glen Davis (aka “Big Baby”) of the Los Angeles Clippers barreled into the knee of Golden State Warriors center Jermaine O’Neal after O’Neal had rebounded a missed shot by the Clippers. There was 9:39 left to play in the 2nd quarter:

In the 2010 NBA Playoffs, as a member of the Miami Heat the year before the arrival of LeBron James in South Beach, O’Neal and Davis, playing for the Boston Celtics, were involved in an altercation.

The year after, O’Neal became a teammate of Davis’s after signing with the Celtics under head coach Doc Rivers, who is now the coach of the Clippers and the primary reason for Davis’s interest in joining the Clippers this season.

O’Neal underwent an MRI today and awaits the results. Here are the various reports on the incident between O’Neal and Davis, covered at both the local and national level…

Monte Poole of CSN Bay Area:

When O’Neal got into the locker room – where he was diagnosed with a sprained right knee – he saw the replay and realized he had been knocked to the floor on a bull-like charge from 290-pound Clippers forward Glen “Big Baby” Davis.
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O’Neal quickly reached a conclusion.
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“I looked at it as just a dirty play,” he said.
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“I’m not going to go try to dive into somebody’s legs,” O’Neal continued. “It wasn’t a scramble for the ball. I respect people’s ability to come out and perform and take care of their family, based on their bodies.
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“Either he has terrible balance as a pro athlete, or that was a dirty play.”

Sam Amick of USA Today:

The Warriors are already down two big men, with defensive ace Andrew Bogut still out indefinitely with a fractured rib and second-year center Festus Ezeli out because of knee surgery. But O’Neal, 35 and in his 18th season, expressed optimism that he’ll be ready to go by the time Saturday rolls around.
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“I’m ecstatic (about the early prognosis),” O’Neal said. “Anything short of an ACL, PCL, (or) MCL (tear), and I’m playing. There are only two things that probably can stop me from playing – rapture, God coming back, and an ACL injury.
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“(The doctors) have some things that they have some concerns about, so they’re getting (the knee) looked at in the morning. The 15, or 13, or 15 minutes you’re playing (in Game 7), give what you got. I mean, I may never see this again. I’m going to walk out on my feet.”

Poole again on CSN Bay Area:

“Everybody had to step up and do whatever it took to get this win,” Curry said.
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“Steph said he got me. Draymond came in and said, ‘I got you.’ That means a lot to me,” O’Neal said. “They looked me in my eyes and said ‘I got you. We’re going to win.’ That says a lot.”