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Fri, Mar 21st 2008, 14:40
O'Neal making good progress in practice
ndiana Pacers forward Jermaine O’Neal hopes he can return to the lineup next week, and he doesn’t mind doing it while coming off the bench.
O’Neal, out since Jan. 16 with a sore left knee, practiced for the second time Thursday without any significant problems other than conditioning.
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“Every day we’re going to try to step it up a couple notches and see the reaction to the knee,” O’Neal said. “The knee didn’t swell any (Wednesday) or (Thursday). The key is for the next day I come to practice to see if the knee is reacting well. So far it’s been great.”
O’Neal will practice with teammates during their shootaround this morning for tonight’s game against Minnesota.
“We want to try to put together a string of practices and see where I’m at,” he said. “Every day is very, very important for me considering there’s only 13, 14 games left. I think the goal would be to try to get in the last 10 games and just build from the games. I think three or four more practices and we can evaluate if I can start playing next week or whenever.”
O’Neal’s pending return comes when the Pacers are trying to chase down the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Pacers are two games behind New Jersey for the eighth seed.
“I would think it would have an enormous impact on us,” Pacers coach Jim O’Brien said. “Sometimes when a guy is not playing for as long as he’s been on the sidelines you forget how athletic and big and quick he is.
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