The Boston Celtics' Jermaine O'Neal weighs knee surgery options

WALTHAM, Mass. -- Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers said that center Jermaine O'Neal underwent an MRI on Wednesday on his ailing left knee and, while he hadn't seen the results yet, he indicated that in-season surgery is a likely possibility as Boston looks to cure what's nagged at O'Neal his first three months with the team.

O'Neal sat out Wednesday's game against the Sacramento Kings, the 21st game he's missed this season because of lingering soreness in a knee that's bothered him throughout the latter stages of his career. O'Neal met with the team brass Thursday morning to discuss options and admitted surgery is inevitable -- it simply comes down to whether it will come during the season or after.

"[In-season surgery] was definitely something we talked about the first time I was out for the extended period of time," O'Neal told Boston sports radio WEEI (850 AM) on Thursday during a weekly Celtics call-in segment. "We wanted to try a couple of other options. We may be looking at that situation now. [Surgery] is something that I will eventually need, at some point -- at the end of the season or if it's in-season -- but you want to be around. You don't want to miss extended periods of time ... I already did that. So you make your decisions as a player and you listen to the staff, and, if they have a certain way, then you try that out and if it doesn't work you have to go with the next-best scenario.

"I'm going to run in to see the doctor again in just a second with the team trainers and [Celtics president of basketball operations] Danny [Ainge] and those guys and we're going to make a decision on ultimately what's best for me to get better and be done with the ailment and be back on the court full time."

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Rivers hinted that in-season surgery was the likely option after a two-month rest didn't work. After missing 20 games due to the knee, O'Neal returned for 10 games starting on Christmas, but sat out the second half of Friday's win over the Toronto Raptors while admitting to soreness from the renewed activity.

The knee swelled up Wednesday morning, forcing him back to the bench before Boston's lopsided win over the Kings.

"My guess is he's going to have to do something; I don't know that, but I'm using my doctorate," joked Rivers, who has always been fond of noting that 'Doc' is merely his nickname. "My guess is that he'll probably have to do something."

And what happens if O'Neal does need in-season surgery?

"It puts more pressure on all of us," said Rivers, before revealing that reserve center Semih Erden, who filled in nicely for O'Neal on Wednesday, posting career highs with 10 points and eight rebounds, missed Thursday's practice due to an aggravated groin pull.

Shrugged Rivers: "Hey, it's who we are."

Chris Forsberg is the Celtics reporter for ESPNBoston.com. Follow him on Twitter.

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Phil Kessel?s hot streak helps Leafs

Toronto Maple Leafs Phil Kessel (3rd L) and Tyler Bozak (4th L) try to get a shot past Los Angeles Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick during the first period of their NHL hockey game in Los Angeles, California, January 10, 2011.

LUCY NICHOLSON/REUTERS

SAN JOSE, CALIF.?Phil Kessel, named to the NHL all-star game for the first time in his career, was asked to sum up the first half of his season.

?It?s been hot and cold,? said Kessel. ?It?s not terrible. I?ve been scoring lately.?

It?s a sentiment that might sum up the Maple Leafs? season so far too.

Lately, the Leafs have been hot. The offence, terrible at times, has come around nicely.

?I see little plays out there where guys are starting to come closer to the puck and make little plays,? said forward Clarke MacArthur. ?It?s a way easier game than being spread out all over the ice.

?When we get going forward with the puck, we?re a lot more dangerous out there.?

The Leafs went into Tuesday night?s game in San Jose on as good a roll as they?ve had all season.

It may well be that scoring is contagious.

There was no ?aha? moment that could help explain the five-game stretch between Jan. 1 in Ottawa and Monday night in Los Angeles in which the Leafs went 4-1-0 and outscored their opponents 22-13.

But there might have been tell-tale signs that the team was about to awaken from its offensive slumber.

In the six final games of 2010, the Leafs went 1-5-0 and were outscored 23-15, but top players had started to pick up the pace. Mikhail Grabovski got going on Dec. 6. Heading into Tuesday night?s game, he?d potted 17 points since then.

But perhaps more importantly, Kessel woke up too. Kessel, who?d twice gone seven games without scoring, is scoring in bunches these days. He had four in his last three games heading into San Jose, and was named to the all-star game with a team-leading 18 goals.

Kessel, who is reluctant to open up to the media about anything, was lured out of his hotel before Tuesday?s game to talk about his sudden burst of offence.

?We?re playing pretty good hockey now,? said Kessel, quick to deflect praise to the team. ?We?re doing the little things, going after pucks, playing really hard and getting results.

?We?re fighting, we?re battling.?

Kessel is on track for 36 goals, which would match his career high but still fall short of expectations. He?s supposed to be on an upward trajectory towards 40, 45, maybe 50, according to some prognosticators.

But, like so many of his teammates, he has underachieved for stretches this season. Yet he insists he doesn?t feel the pressure of expectations, choosing instead to believe in himself.

?It doesn?t (bother me),? Kessel said of the pressure. ?You just stick with what you know. Goals are going to come eventually, if you?re getting your chances. If you?re playing well out there, things will work themselves out.?

So it is gratifying to an extent that a team whose major shortcoming is offence, had not one, but two players named to all-star teams: Kessel to the NHL squad and his new linemate, Joey Crabb, to the AHL team. It?s doubtful Crabb will be allowed to play in the AHL game in Hershey, Pa., given how well he?s playing in the NHL.

It perhaps may not be a coincidence that Kessel and centre Tyler Bozak emerged from their offensive slumbers around the time Crabb got his chance. Crabb?s a physical player, able to dig pucks out of the corner, stand in front of the net and, apparently, do a reverse spinarama backhander to feed the puck through traffic to Kessel at the side of the net, as he did Monday in L.A. to set up Kessel?s fourth goal in three games.

?That?s not an easy play to make,? Kessel said.

But it?s more than one line that woke up and lifted the Leafs ? if only for one day ? to the lofty perch of a tie for 11th overall in the East.

?We?ve been playing good hockey as a group the last 10 days,? said captain Dion Phaneuf. ?We weren?t getting results for a bit. We started to come together to play a full 200-foot game with every guy going.

?I think the reason why we?re having success right now and giving ourselves a chance is the consistency of our team and playing for a full 60 minutes.

?We lost a couple of tough one-goal games and those aren?t easy to handle, by any means. We played well in a lot of those games and we?re losing them. But we stuck with it.?

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Raymond, Kesler score in shootout as Canucks beat Islanders 4-3

Canuck Kevin Bieksa and John Tavares of the Islanders battle for the puck during their game on Tuesday. Both Tavares and Bieksa scored in the third period.

Kathy Kmonicek/Associated Press

UNIONDALE, N.Y.?The Vancouver Canucks left Long Island with two more points and an appreciation for the way the Islanders play.

Mason Raymond and Ryan Kesler scored in a shootout, and the surging Canucks beat New York 4-3 on Tuesday night.

The Canucks were happy to get the two points, but they weren?t so happy about the way they played.

?We had a tough time the whole game,? Daniel Sedin said. ?They had a lot of energy.?

Alex Burrows, Kesler and Kevin Bieksa scored for the Canucks in regulation. Roberto Luongo made 38 saves, helping Vancouver improve to 14-0-3 in its last 17 games.

?They played well,? Luongo said. ?It was a tougher game than it looked to be.?

The Canucks (28-8-6) lead the NHL with 62 points.

Jack Hillen, John Tavares and Blake Comeau had goals for the Islanders. Kevin Poulin turned aside 48 shots.

?Kevin was excellent,? Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. ?He faced a good team, and turned in a very good performance.?

Raymond scored in the shootout on a spin-o-rama move.

?I tried it a few times in practice,? Raymond said. ?The two points we got may make a big difference.?

Kesler?s was the last shot taken.

?It was a nice ending,? Kesler said. ?But I?ll tell you, they work really hard.?

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Brock Lesnar, Junior Dos Santos named coaches for 'The Ultimate Fighter'

The suspense is over. On multiple fronts.

The 13th season of the reality series 'The Ultimate Fighter' finally has its coaches, as UFC president Dana White announced Tuesday that heavyweights Brock Lesnar and Junior Dos Santos have agreed to fill the roles.

The news also effectively killed any speculation on Lesnar's future in the UFC. Following a first-round TKO loss to current champion Cain Velasquez last October, there had been reports that Lesnar wanted out of his contract.

Not so, said White.

"I liked all the rumors that were going around that Brock didn't want to do this anymore," said White, on a national media conference call. "None of that was true. I was in communication with Brock the whole time."

According to White, an injury to Velasquez had an impact on the promotion's decision to match up the two heavyweights. Velasquez is expected to be out of action for six-to-eight months due to a torn rotator cuff he suffered in the win over Lesnar.

With Dos Santos (12-1) waiting in the wings for a title shot of his own, the UFC decided to let he and Lesnar (5-2) battle it out for the position of No. 1 contender. Although no official date is in place, White said the two will definitely meet in June.

"There is no interim title," White said. "These two will coach, then fight. The winner of that fight will fight Cain Velasquez when he's healthy."

Dos Santos is undefeated since joining the UFC in 2008. He's recorded six straight victories in that span, including four first-round finishes.

For Lesnar, the loss to Velasquez was his first since dropping a first-round submission to Frank Mir at UFC 81 in Feb. 2008. His agreement to appear on the show is surprising, as the former pro-wrestling figure is known for dodging media and cameras whenever possible.

White acknowledged as much Tuesday.

"Yeah, it was," answered White, when asked if it had been difficult to sign Lesnar on to the show. "It's going to be a tough season. I deal with Brock in very short spurts. The guy only fights two-to-three times a year and it's always tough. It's going to be a very interesting six weeks of filming."

Taping of the show is set to begin later this month. It debuts March 30 on Spike TV.

The season will feature welterweight fighters and follow the same format as recent seasons. A field of 28 fighters is reduced to 14 official cast members by elimination fights usually aired on the first episode.

It will be the first time since the show focused on the 170-pound division since its ninth season, which saw coaches Dan Henderson and Michael Bisping coach opposite one another in a U.S. vs. U.K. contest.

Brett Okamoto covers MMA for ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter at bokamotoESPN.

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Rain ruins day at Hobart International

Posted January 12, 2011 18:00:00

Rain played havoc with the schedule at the Hobart International women's tennis tournament for a second consecutive day, raising the prospect of a delayed final the day before the Australian Open.

Australia's Alicia Molik was still waiting to play her second round match against Italian seventh seed Sara Errani after persistent rain washed out Wednesday's day session.

Countrywoman Jarmila Groth remained the only player through the quarter-finals, after winning the only completed game on Tuesday.

With more rain forecast, tournament director Michael Roberts said organisers had three contingency plans ready ahead of the final scheduled for Saturday afternoon.

"The first is extending the hours of play on Thursday and Friday," he said.

"The second option is to have the semi-finals and final on the Saturday.

"The third and worst case scenario, if we just can't get out there, is to move the final to Sunday."

The Australian Open begins next Monday, which would make for a tight turnaround for the finalists in Hobart.

Roberts said Australian Jessica Moore had missed qualifying for the Australian Open because she was committed to playing doubles in Hobart.

"Players risk a pretty hefty fine if they pull out of WTA tournaments," he said.

"There's no real point running out of here when it's raining in Melbourne."

Paul Fox-Hughes, the senior severe weather forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology in Hobart, said rain would hit Tasmania for the next two days.

"We are expecting to get periods of rain over the next couple of days as part of this broader system that's affecting most of the state and most of the eastern seaboard," he said.

"It will ease a little during Thursday... and further rain on Friday, which will tend to ease. Into the weekend it should start to fine up."

- AAP

Tags: sport, tennis, australia, tas, hobart-7000

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SA hockey captain in World All Stars team

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Midfielder Marsha Marescia, the captain of the Investec South Africa women's hockey team, has been named in the World All Stars team for the third time in four years.

The silky-skilled Marescia (27) was also selected for the International Hockey Federation (FIH) All Stars in 2007 and 2009.

"What more can one say about Marsha," SA head coach Giles Bonnet said on Monday. "She is the complete professional, blessed with skill, fighting spirit and a strong attachment to the team's cause."

The All Stars selection is based on the recommendations and opinions of hockey experts from across the globe including officials, coaches, journalists and players.

Marescia, who is just short of 220 caps, said on Monday that while she felt honoured, the recognition is as much a tribute to her teammates.

"Hockey is a team game and I must thank my teammates, for without their talent and commitment, recognition of this nature wouldn't be possible for an individual," she said.

During the SA training camp at the University of Free State Hockey Centre in Bloemfontein earlier this month, Argentine coach Adel Fuentes described Marescia as "a special one".

It is an acknowledgement that has followed Marescia's career since her SA debut at the tender age of 18.

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