The Knicks caught a break even before their playoff series with the Celtics begins.
Shaquille O’Neal will miss Boston’s playoff opener with a right calf injury and remains out indefinitely.
“This guy has been working his tail off – he’s worked so, so hard,” team physician Dr. Brian McKeon said in a statement. “Today we put him in a trial pre-game workout and it failed. It didn’t work. So we’re going to get back to work tomorrow and keep doing what we’re doing. Hopefully it will work soon.
“He’s actually made a progression every day. But the blood supply in his leg is so poor that it just takes time. I told Danny and the coaches that in the last 20 years this is one area of medicine where we have made no progress, because it just takes time.
“It’s the whole Achilles/calf construct.”
General manager Danny Ainge made the announcement during practice Saturday.
“He’s been making progress,” Ainge told the Boston Herald. “We tried to get him out there to simulate a game situation as much as we could and he’s not ready. We don’t know when he will play, but he won’t play in tomorrow’s game.”
O’Neal had missed 27 games with a sore right leg then returned on April 4 against Detroit. But he lasted just 5 minutes, 29 seconds before leaving again and has not played since.
(The AP contributed)
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