Raptors' O'Neal day-to-day with sprained left knee

[jrcp3]

Raptors forward Jermaine O'Neal did not practice Saturday and was listed as day-to-day after straining his surgically repaired left knee against New Jersey on Friday night.

Tests of O'Neal's knee revealed no structural damage. He was scheduled to receive treatment twice Saturday and could play Sunday when Toronto hosts defending NBA-champion Boston.

"We've already made contingency plans if he can't go," Raptors coach Sam Mitchell said.

New Jersey forward Sean Williams was assessed a flagrant foul for pulling O'Neal down by the jersey as he went up for a shot under the basket in the fourth quarter of an overtime loss to the Nets.

O'Neal stayed down for a minute, then walked gingerly to the bench. He returned after a timeout but missed both free throws before hobbling to the locker room and going to a local hospital for tests.

"First and foremost, you're worried," Toronto forward Chris Bosh said. "It was awkward. We're fortunate it wasn't as bad as it looked."

O'Neal is averaging 12.9 points and 9.3 rebounds. He missed 40 games last season because of lingering pain from a torn ligament in his left knee that was surgically repaired the previous summer. He joined Toronto in an offseason trade that sent guard T.J. Ford to Indiana.

A Raptors spokesman said Toronto general manager Bryan Colangelo had asked the NBA office to review the play, but all flagrant fouls are automatically reviewed by the league.

[TMAC-RAPTORS]

Good news, now can BC please get a above average SG or SF. I hope we can trade Japono and Graham and keep Bargnan because he is really improving.

[YaoMing4MVP]

Originally Posted by TMAC-RAPTORS

Good news, now can BC please get a above average SG or SF. I hope we can trade Japono and Graham and keep Bargnan because he is really improving.

Bargs is definately better than last season, I hope I am not making this comment too early. He still needs to work on consistency and confidence to take the shot when he's suppose to and not hesistate.

In terms of getting a SF or SG. Our perimeter shooting has never been the problem. It's our interior offense that killed us last season. With JO healthy, I clearly see the improvements in rebounding and points in the paint. I think we were unlucky vs Nets and Celtics this season, games that we were suppose to win. The game vs Boston should've been ours, no one expected Pierce to light it up in the 2nd half and completely takeover. Also, if Calderon stayed healthy, we probably could have beaten the Magics. In my opinion, we're 6-6 on paper but could easly have been 8-4.

[danumber88]

Brags improved oh his defense, but as of consistency it is yet to be proven.

[Dr.Funk]

Definately a mistake have JO play in this game.

He wasn't putting any weight on his injured leg at all from the very beginning and doing that is asking for serious trouble with you other leg.

[Beebo]

I hope he doesn't hurt his knee even more....I mean its good to see he's trying to play but he's such an important player for this team, you don't want him to miss a lot of games.