“Would have f***** LeBron and D-Wade up” – Shaquille O’Neal candidly makes BOLD CLAIM about final season of career
Shaq reveals what he would have done to LeBron and Wade in 2011.
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Shaquille O’Neal, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James
Shaquille O’Neal has never been shy about sharing his thoughts on the NBA, especially when it comes to his former team, the Boston Celtics. The Hall of Fame big man, who played his final season in Boston in 2010-11, told Heavy Sports that he would have given LeBron James and Dwyane Wade a hard time if he had faced them in the Eastern Conference finals that year.
“I was just a role player then, but if we’d have made it to this thing, I would have f***** LeBron and D-Wade up in the playoffs. I promise I would have. That would have been my role. Like, as soon as they come to the hole, touch ’em up,” Shaq said.
Shaq’s Celtics never got the opportunity to challenge James and Wade’s Miami Heat, who had just formed their “Big Three” with Chris Bosh in the summer of 2010. The Celtics fell in five games to the Heat in the conference semifinals, as Shaq was plagued by injuries and played only 12 minutes in two games.
Shaq had joined the Celtics with hopes of winning his fifth championship ring and adding to the legacy of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen, who had won the title in 2008. But the aging Celtics could not keep pace with the younger and more athletic Heat, who went on to lose to the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals.
Shaquille O’Neal challenges Jayson Tatum to step up
Now, 12 years later, the Celtics are facing another Heat team that has shocked many by reaching the conference finals. The Heat have taken the first two games of the series, both in dramatic fashion, thanks to their balanced scoring, stifling defense, and clutch play from Jimmy Butler.
The Celtics, on the other hand, have struggled with inconsistency, turnovers, and poor execution in crunch time. Shaq believes that the Celtics need more from their star player, Jayson Tatum, who was named to the All-NBA Third Team this season.
“Jayson Tatum — you want to be good, want to be great, or do you want to be one of the greatest Celtics ever?” Shaq said. “With him, being All-NBA, he’s going to have to step up.”
Tatum has averaged 32 points, 10 rebounds and 4.5 assists in the first two games of the series, but has not been himself in the clutch moments, especially in the fourth quarter. He has also shot just 51.4% from the field and 30.8% from three-point range. He has also been outplayed by Butler, who has averaged 31 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 6.5 assists while shooting 48% from the field and 40% from beyond the arc.
The Celtics will try to avoid falling into a 3-0 hole when they face the Heat in Game 3 on Sunday night.
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Ankush Singh
(616 Articles Published)