“Not Sold on Phoenix Yet”: Shaquille O’Neal Sides Towards LeBron James’ Lakers Ahead of NBA In-Season Tournament Quarterfinals Against Suns

Shubham Singh | 05/12/2023
“Not Sold on Phoenix Yet”: Shaquille O’Neal Sides Towards LeBron James' Lakers Ahead of NBA In-Season Tournament Quarterfinals Against Suns

The Los Angeles Lakers are going to host the Phoenix Suns for the West Quarter-Finals 2 of the In-Season Tournament. TNT is going to cover the game and fans will watch Shaq, Chuck, Kenny, and EJ go at it again. They also covered the Eastern leg of the Quarter-Finals.

The crew was previewing the Lakers-Suns game after the New Orleans Pelicans’ 127:117 win over the Sacramento Kings in the West Quarterfinals 1. Shaquille O’Neal gave his two cents about the next slate of In-Season Tournament Games. He sided with LeBron James and the crew over Kevin Durant’s injury-riddled team.

While previewing the Lakers-Suns match-up, Shaq stated that he isn’t impressed with the Suns thus far. He added, “The Lakers are playing well, AD, we jump on him a lot, but he has been playing consistent. He is playing like AD especially when the AD when he was playing for the Pelicans.”

“If he is close to that, and D’Angelo is stepping up. I like the Lakers and I’m not sold on Phoenix yet,” he added. 

Meanwhile, Charles Barkley expressed that he is concerned about both teams. While he believes the Suns have an injury concern, LeBron James is dealing with a lot of pressure early in the season. Therefore, this pressure can affect the basketball phenom who is going to be 39 in a few weeks.

He pointed out how LBJ was playing 30-32 minutes earlier but now that has extended to 35. For Barkley, with a lot of games remaining in the season, James can face some issues ahead.

Anthony Davis and LeBron James are set for a big challenge

The crew has been covering the tournament regularly and it isn’t just a weekend appearance anymore. Charles Barkley, as usual, has given huge takes early on and even predicted that the Boston Celtics will be the 2024 NBA champions.

This “guarantee” came just a couple of hours before the game, but the Celtics lost to the Pacers as the Pacers drained them 122:112. NBA fans have trolled Barkley for getting his predictions wrong and believe that a guarantee from him usually culminates into something opposite.

Meanwhile, Anthony Davis is hyped for the Semis game against the Suns. Relishing the competitive nature of the tournament, he stated, ”Kind of reminds you of that Sunday night football, Monday night football, even playoffs in the later rounds where it’s the only game on TV and everybody’s locked in.”

Will he help his team reach the Semis? Only time will tell.

Post Edited By: Shubham Singh
Anthony Davis Charles Barkley LeBron James Shaquille O'Neal

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Shubham Singh

Shubham Singh is an NBA Journalist at SportsRush. He found his passion in Writing when he couldn't fulfil his dream of playing professional basketball. Shubham is obsessed with box scores and also loves to keep track of advanced stats and is, particularly, fond of writing CoreSport analytical pieces. In the league, his all time favorites were 80s Bad Boys, Pistons, while Dennis Rodman and his enthralling rebounding made him love the game more. It also made him realize that the game is much more than fancy scoring and playmaking. Shubham is also a huge fan of cricket and loves to watch all forms of women sports.

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