One O’Neal misses one game. The other O’Neal misses the next. I get the feeling this is a pattern the Celtics will see a lot of this season.

Doc Rivers told the media that Shaq will likely miss tomorrow night’s game against the Detroit Pistons, and that Jermaine should play. Jermaine will likely start for the first time in his short Celtics career. It is yet to be determined whether that is a good thing.

For the second straight day, Shaq took a swim instead of participating in practice. For the second straight day, the thought of Shaq swimming cracked me up.

With Shaq likely sitting against Detroit, one would think Semih Erden will see the first action of his NBA career. Of course, one would have thought the same thing when Jermaine missed Friday’s game against the Knicks, but the result was the same as when both O’Neals were healthy: DNP-CD, Semih Erden.

Two thoughts before I take off: 1) It’s annoying to use strictly first names to refer to the O’Neals, and 2) Doc, it’s Semih time. Unleash the Turk.