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“I told Danny Green to stop f****ing around and get your game right”: How Shaquille O’Neal’s advice to former LeBron James teammate grabbed headlines in the 2019 NBA Finals

Akash Murty
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"I told Danny Green to stop f****ing around and get your game right": How Shaquille O’Neal's advice to former LeBron James teammate reinvigorated his career

Danny Green has made a living out of shooting from behind the arc but the 3 time NBA champ struggled to find his form once and Shaq helped him out 

Green was drafted in 2009 into a team that had two of the most dominant players in Shaquille O’Neal and LeBron James.

Although Shaq was at the latter end of his career and LeBron had planned his departure to the South Beach, Green must have learned a lot from both of them in a season. 

Also read: “I’m not like some players from Philadelphia who don’t work on their game”: Shaquille O’Neal fires shots at Ben Simmons for his petty attitude with the 76ers

Danny Green joked about Shaq’s suggestion to him during 2019 NBA Finals 

While speaking to media post-match after Game 3 of 2019 NBA Finals Green opened up about O’Neal’s constant shooting advice to him following the Eastern Conference Finals against Milwaukee Bucks, where he shot an abysmal 0 of 9 in the last 3 games and 4 of 23 in 6 game series.

And surely enough after following The Big Diesel’s advice Danny back to his usual self, helped Toronto Raptors beat the heavily favored Golden State Warriors in the Finals. In total, Green made 12 threes in the series, playing a big role in both offense and defense. 

This was not the first or the last time Green played an important role of being the 3 and D guy for a championship team. 

Green had an NBA record for most 3-point field goals made in a Finals series 

Danny was the go-to shooter and perimeter defender for Gregg Popovich’s Spurs for the better half of 8 years, he helped them reach the 2013 Finals and win it all in 2014, against the defending Champions Miami Heat. 

It was during the 2013 Finals, where he made 27 threes, which was then the NBA record for most 3s made in an NBA Finals series, and guess how many 3 pointers Shaq has made? One. He has attempted less 3s in his career (22) than Green made in those Finals.

Shaquille O’Neal was a different player altogether, a 4 x NBA champion, 3 x NBA Finals MVP, 15 x All Star, he never believed in shooting.

It’s just all fun and love when he was with his rookies or ex-teammates. Green described his relationship with Shaq,

“He’s a very creative guy, I did sing a couple of songs. A little dancing. You had to greet [O’Neal and other veterans] a certain way. It was all fun and games, but it’s a lot different when you’re a rookie that’s playing than a rookie that’s not playing. They had a little fun with me because I wasn’t playing much.”

Even LeBron James said “I wasn’t really the veteran on the team that made the rookies do stuff, most of the time it was Shaq. Shaq made him(Green) do everything.”

Also read: “John Koncak was making $15 million for 3 years”: Shaquille O’Neal explains why he chose basketball over football during his high school days on Jimmy Kimmel Live

About the author

Akash Murty

Akash Murty

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An Electrical and Electronics Engineer by degree, Akash Murty is an NBA Editor at The SportsRush. Previously a Software Engineer, Murty couldn’t keep himself away from sports, and his knack for writing and putting his opinion forward brought him to the TSR. A big Soccer enthusiast, his interest in basketball developed late, as he got access to a hoop for the first time at 17. Following this, he started watching basketball at the 2012 Olympics, which transitioned to NBA, and he became a fan of the game as he watched LeBron James dominate the league. Him being an avid learner of the game and ritually following the league for around a decade, he now writes articles ranging from throwbacks, and live game reports, to gossip. LA Lakers are his favourite basketball team, while Chelsea has his heart in football. He also likes travelling, reading fiction, and sometimes cooking.

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