Celtics coach Doc Rivers denied prior to Sunday night's playoff opener against the New York Knicks that his players were worrying about where the team stood without Shaquille O'Neal.
"No, we're ready," he said. "We're fine."
But at the same time, the C's would love to have their big fella back.
President of basketball operations Danny Ainge and physician Brian McKeon addressed the media Saturday to say Shaq was "not ready" for playoff action, but now there's a slight glimmer of hope that the 39-year-old center will play on Tuesday, when the C's take the court for Game 2.
"It's going to be tough, because we only have one practice," Rivers said. "But there's a chance."
The Celtics had three practices this week in between Wednesday's season finale and Sunday's Game 1. They watched film and talked at Thursday's meeting, and then Shaq watched while the rest of the Celtics played full-court on Friday. Shaq tried to run up and down the floor at the team's facility Saturday, and it just wasn't working.
The Celtics have one more practice Monday afternoon to nurse Shaq back into game shape.
"I don't know what we'll do on the floor, but we will do a little bit, and then we'll see from there," Rivers said. "Basically, it's day to day. We'll just see."
