Shaquille O’Neal reacted quite well to Chris Paul breaking a 37-year streak of his teammates making the NBA Finals, starting 1984.
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An NBA legend and probably the most dominant player of all time, Shaq has a unique legacy. He played in the league till he was old as dirt, so to speak. In doing so, he compiled a long list of illustrious teammates who’ve achieved great things in NBA basketball.
His reaction to the streak being broken is a really far cry from the ‘sensitive’ picture NBA fans love to paint about him:
“I knew this streak was going to come to an end. I was really hoping the Clippers made it, you know, for Ty Lue. Paul George is having a great playoffs, and I like Paul.”
“All streaks come to an end. I’m just fortunate to have played for as long as I played.” @SHAQ reacts to his former teammates in the NBA Finals streak ending on #NBATwitterLive pic.twitter.com/gfEVuCTo84
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) July 2, 2021
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“When he had a bad playoffs last year and everybody killed him, I never said anything. Then he fought back, he came in and showed us. CP3 is a great friend of mine and I’m happy for him that he made it.”
“But look, all streaks come to an end and I’m really fortunate to have played as long as I played, and I didn’t even know about this streak until last year. I didn’t really know that for the past 35 years I’ve had a teammate making the Finals.”
Can Chris Paul lead the Phoenix Suns all the way to their first NBA title?
Most NBA fans now recognize that the Suns are de facto favorites in this year’s Finals. They have a deep roster with a wealth of talent, both in their starting lineup as well as off the bench.
Monty Williams has proven to be a great coach for a championship run thus far. He’s made the right personnel decisions and put his players in the best position to succeed. The way that he’s filled Cam Payne with confidence and ignited his NBA career is worthy of tons of praise.
Irrespective of whether the Bucks take the Finals with Giannis in their ranks or if the Hawks reach that stage with Trae Young fit, both of these Eastern Conference teams will have a humongous task at their hand – stopping a motivated Chris Paul from winning his first NBA Finals.
