Like we’ve often seen before, Shaquille O’Neal didn’t waste any time after the TNT broadcast yesterday night to voice his opinions on social media platforms. After the Inside the NBA panel reacted to the Los Angeles Lakers’ impressive win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, Shaq took to Instagram to hype Anthony Davis‘ brilliant showing in the game. Merely 11 weeks after calling out AD for his lack of efforts in crunch time, Shaq shared a clip of AD’s monster dunk on Chet Holmgren on his Instagram stories.
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Coming off a loss against the Utah Jazz, the Los Angeles Lakers put up an incredible display to shock the Oklahoma City Thunder. Anthony Davis’ contribution held a lot of value in the Purple & Gold’s 112-105 win. Apart from recording a 27-point, 15-rebound double-double, the Lakers star also tallied 5 assists, 2 steals, and a block. Throughout the 38:24 minutes that he was on the floor, Davis kept entertaining fans with several highlight plays.
In fact, AD’s wild dunk on Chet Holmgren really summed up the Lakers’ performance in the game. During the third quarter of the closely contested bout, D’Angelo Russell dished a nice bounce pass to a cutting Davis. The big man took off after taking merely a single step. Showcasing his incredible leaping abilities, the 2020 NBA champ flushed down the emphatic dunk, leaving the Thunder rookie clueless. AD’s angry reaction after the dunk really shows that he has rediscovered his passion for the thrills of the game.
Shaquille O’Neal couldn’t help himself but hype up the play. By resharing a House of Highlights post on his story, Shaq tipped his hat to the Lakers star.
Shaq highlights Anthony Davis’ emphatic slam pic.twitter.com/QPDIZZgGaX
Holmgren might’ve been on the receiving end of a poster dunk but he displayed a lot of courage by contesting the dunk. There are not many players in the league who would even dare to jump along with Davis. Hence, while the play was extremely emphatic, the OKC center impressed a lot of fans with his efforts.
Davis had to deal with a lot of criticism since the start of the season for not taking up the load of the team’s scoring responsibilities from LeBron James, who just turned 39. After his game-high 27-point double-double, fans are hopeful for a change in the Lakers star’s mindset.
Shaquille O’Neal criticized Anthony Davis 11 weeks ago
It’s great to see Shaquille O’Neal use his social media to praise Anthony Davis. However, 11 weeks ago, the Big Aristotle was extremely critical of the Lakers big man’s performance. After the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Phoenix Suns back in October, Shaq addressed his concerns – the All-Star duo of LBJ and AD had to play extended minutes.
“I’m Bron and this is AD, I don’t care who coming in there, were gotta put them away. When we supposed to put them away, we put them away,” Shaq had said.
The California side put up an outstanding production to win the In-Season Tournament. However, since winning the inaugural tournament, the team went on a horrid losing skid, winning merely three out of their next 13 games.
Grabbing huge wins against the Los Angeles Clippers, the Toronto Raptors, and now against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Darvin Ham’s boys seem to be slowly getting out of their slump. But despite these impressive victories, the Lakers have a 20-21 record, sitting merely 1.5 games ahead of the #12 Golden State Warriors. Lakers Nation will hope that LeBron James and co. can grab a few more wins and jump up the standings.
