Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley, laughing at Anthony Davis on National TV after Game 5 went viral on social rather quickly. Soon after, Shaq took to Instagram to share a past interview of Jason Terry having vulgar connotations. The timing of the story, however, raises a lot of eyebrows.
Advertisement
During Game 5 of the Western Conference semi-finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers, Davis was struck by an inadvertent arm from Kevon Looney. He was visibly shaken by the blow and had to be taken to the locker room in a wheelchair for further examination.
When Shaq heard the news on ‘NBA on TNT’, he started crumpling paper and burst into laughter. Charles and Kenny Smith joined in, prompting the show to halt for a few minutes. Having dealt with injuries for a major part of his career, AD has gotten a lot of criticism for his unavailability and lack of toughness on the court. And perhaps Shaq’s crumpling of the paper indicates yet another sequel in the same series.
Shaquille O’Neal shares wild interview on Instagram before Game 6
Shaquille O’Neal is probably the most active athlete on social media. He is often seen posting a lot of stories on Instagram. Before the elimination game of the Warriors-Lakers series, Shaq shared a story of Jason Terry’s postgame interview that left people in splits in 2011. Here is what Terry said:
“Well all series long we’ve been able to penetrate their bigs, get deep, suck the d in, and then we got spot-up shooters. You got three of the most prolific three-point shooters in the history of the game out there.”
Though the interview is hilarious and up for interpretation, Jason Terry was trying to describe the success against the Laker’s defense in the Western Conference semi-finals. Looking back at it, his choice of words could have been better. It certainly gave the NBA world a laugh for the ages.
Coming back to the 2023 NBA playoffs, let’s talk a little about one of the Conference Finalists, Anthony Davis, and the Lakers.
Anthony Davis’ Impact on the Western Conference Semi-finals
Anthony Davis has been an absolute beast on the floor, offensively and defensively. He has lived up to the expectations and led his team to a series victory. The Lakers’ Center’s mere presence in the paint eliminated any scoring threats from drive-ins. The Warriors were forced to rely on their three-point shooting to secure a win, something that failed them when it mattered most.
The Lakers won the series 4-2 after beating the Warriors in 6 games, with the final game of the series being played at the Crypto.com Arena in LA. Davis had another monster rebounding night, securing 20 boards while scoring 17 points. He averaged 21.5 PPG and 14.5 RPG while shooting 57.8% from the field in this series. A dominant performance that he will hope to carry to the conference finals against Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets.
